My family is from Donetsk. In 2019 we moved to Mariupol since we could not live under occupation anymore. My elderly parents stayed there - at least we weren’t far away from them. Two months of the larger war we spent in Mariupol, hiding in the basements. My husband went outside to the fire, but me and the two children stayed inside. Since the end of March I was caring for three children already…

At the end of March my family stayed in our apartment on the ground floor. There was probably an airstrike from above since three upper floors were destroyed and the fire started. My husband run up there and found only a boy alive, classmate of our son. They are both 9 years old. The boy’s parents died right there, his father sheltered the child with his body. The boy had minor shrapnel wounds. Luckily, I had some medicine and bandages.

Until the end of March, we could not run away from that hell but then somehow we managed. We were leaving with three cars - elderly men, our neighbours were driving. Only women and children were let to go, not men. My husband is still there, in Mariupol. Every once in a while he texts me from unknown numbers, saying ‘I’m alive’. And that’s it. 

Our elderly parents had a family in a village near Druzhkivka. We all arrived here and have been living here for a month. The orphaned boy is with us. We have found his relatives, they are in Germany, promised to come for him. The boy has no documents. The closest city to us is Kramatorsk where it’s dangerous. The Administrative Services Centres aren’t open either. We weren’t able to register anywhere, we don’t know where to go and what to do next. People who hosted us provide us with food from their garden. The other villagers also sympathyse with us and try to help. They know about the tragedy the orphaned boy went through.

I’m waiting for the boy’s family to come here. I don’t talk to him about the death of his parents - I simply can’t. I’m also waiting for my husband to flee Mariupol somehow and come for us. Then we’ll be able to move somewhere, get registered, stay in there and try to start a new life. But until then I barely even leave the house - I’m so afraid of everything.

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