Svitlana Yesaulova-Vynohradova from Avdiyivka
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After February 24, my life changed a lot for the worse. I don’t know how to continue living. The worst thing was that I was pregnant, I had to give birth. We have been fighting for 8 years. When it all started on February 24, things got even worse for us. I was sitting in the basement with my 2-month-old baby. It was scary that a projectile would fly and we wouldn’t be able to call an ambulance. We were evacuated from the bombing zone directly from the basement, but we did not have time to take anything with us. As soon as we left, the projectile hit the children’s room. I worked as a social worker before the war, then I was on maternity leave. The children are scared, we slept in the corridor. We are afraid, that all this has greatly affected their mental state. The eldest daughter Hanna is 18 years old, the middle daughter Margaryta is 12 years old, Yana is 10 years old, and Victoriya is 8 months old. The smallest one was named so because they thought that the war would end soon with a victory. I receive social benefits from the state as a single mother. I divorced my husband because he abused alcohol and beat me. I receive UAH 6,000 for all children. We also receive payments as temporarily displaced persons. But here we rent an apartment, and we pay UAH 8,000 for the rent. I am most afraid that nobody needs us, neither the world nor the government. The destruction of our people continues. This is the scariest thing because I don’t know what the children’s future is. The world needs to hear that we don’t want war. Let’s live in peace. If I were president, I would do everything possible to stop killing my people.