Valeriy Mandryka from Kakhovka
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Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Valery, my family consists of two people. Me and my daughter Daria. Today is exactly one year since my daughter and I have been in the status of IDPs in the Chernihiv region, Talalaivka village. There were kind people who gave us shelter. The conditions are acceptable, we have a roof over our heads and that is the most important thing. In general, all our lives, we have lived in the Kherson region, on the right bank of the Dnipro River, in the village of Kozatske, 3 kilometers from the well-known Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant, destroyed by the occupiers.
The first day of the war began for us when we heard a powerful explosion early in the morning. From the window of our room, I saw an explosion on the opposite side of the river and it was in the area of a military unit. That’s how we realized it was the beginning of the war. My daughter and I quickly got ready and went to my mother, who lives in a private house in the same village as ours. There was panic and chaos among the people. By 10 a.m., Russian tanks and trucks were driving down our streets. We could hear loud shooting, artillery and enemy aircraft, mortars…
People were hiding wherever they could, we were sitting in the basement not understanding what was happening and what was going to happen next… It was shock and fear. We lived under occupation for almost 8 months. It is very painful and insulting to realize that now on our native land, the occupiers are establishing their own rules and we have to live by their rules and be afraid.
It was very difficult to leave the Kherson region, there were many enemy checkpoints, queues, endless document checks. The occupiers did everything they could to prevent people from leaving for the territory controlled by Ukraine. For our native land, it was not the worst of it, after the de-occupation of the right bank of the Kherson region, a real nightmare began. For almost a year now, towns and villages have been turned into complete ruins. Dozens of enemy air bombs and hundreds of shells hit homes, schools, kindergartens and other civilian objects every day. People are being killed and severely injured, especially children. Today there is a gray zone where almost everything is destroyed.
We have lost everything we had and have nowhere to go back to… Some clothes, documents and memories of a normal life are all we have left… There is a great hope that there are organizations that are not indifferent and have the ability and desire to help in these difficult times. We will be sincerely grateful for your concern and charity. We wish you all peaceful skies and prosperity, thank you for your attention.