Valentyna Hryhorkiv from Oleshky
Join Us We Need Your Help
I’m Valentyna. I am an IDP from Oleshky, the Kherson region. On February 24, 2022, we were at home, going to work. We did not know then that the war had started. It was very scary. Airplanes were flying over our house. We live near Antonivskyi Bridge. Terrible battles began. We were scared. We were confused. We took our documents and left with our children. We went to the bridge because that way we could move to the other side of Kherson. When we left, there was already fighting there and we were not allowed to cross. Russian tanks were killing civilians in front of us. It was scary. Our children were scared, we did not know what to do. We were forced to return home. There were battles, our guys were defending ours. We stayed at home. We prepared the most necessary things – gathered water and food and went down to the basement. We put a heater there and waited. We thought it would be over quickly and everything would be fine. But we lived for 6 months under occupation with our children. My husband and I have 2 children – Bogdan, 10 years old, and Sofia, 12 years old. We did not receive any help during the occupation. After 6 months of occupation, we decided to leave. We tried to leave several times because we were not allowed to leave. We spent the night in the field. We saw terrible things. When we got to the territory controlled by Ukraine, we received help. We live now in the Ternopil region. My husband and I worked as veterinarians before the war. We had everything.