Ukrainians are “unbreakable” and “don’t feel fear any more” one year on from the start of the war, a refugee working at a shelter in Kyiv has said.
Staff and evacuees at the Depaul Kyiv Day Centre have described escaping their home cities amid intense shelling at the start of the war and appealed to the West for more weapons and supplies one year later.
The centre, which is supported by the British Embassy, provides emergency aid for refugees – including shelter, food and clothes – while the charity gives longer-term assistance such as therapy services and home repairs.
Kharkiv resident Sergiy fled with several relatives from his grandparents’ home close to the Russian border shortly after the invasion began on February 24, 2022.
He told the PA news agency that his cousin and her three-year-old daughter were among the party who fled and they had to make the difficult decision to leave his grandparents behind due to their mobility issues.
Sergiy said: “For me, the war started at five in the morning, when rockets started flying over my head and I heard very loud explosions and the windows were blown out in my apartment complex.
“In a very short time, they started the artillery shellings and they could go on for 20 hours a day without stopping.
“When we realised that the war had started, we tried to get food, but all the stores and supermarkets were closed, the ATMs were not working and to be outside was too dangerous because there were explosions all the time.
Ukrainian people are unbreakable and we don’t feel fear any more at all— Kharkiv resident Sergiy
“On the third day of the war my garage was hit by a rocket and it exploded.
“Everything looked like an apocalyptic movie. Everything was on fire and there was smoke everywhere.”
Sergiy made the around 310-mile journey to the Kyiv centre – where he was initially helped and now works to support others and conduct security checks – while his cousin and her daughter moved to Lviv.
Reflecting on his horrific experience one year on, he said: “I expect victory in the near future.
“I feel calm and I feel at peace because I know that we did everything we could to help internally displaced people…
“Ukrainian people are unbreakable and we don’t feel fear any more at all.”
Tetyana, who worked as a chef in Kharkiv, fled to Kyiv on February 24 with her eight-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son.
Speaking about their escape, she told PA: “I’m going to cry now, because when we were leaving Kharkiv we were under constant shell fire.
“For the first week we stayed in the basement but when the shelling was very serious and there were fighter jets flying, we made the decision to leave Kharkiv. I lost 7kg in a week.
“We live a day at a time and we’re just hoping for the victory, and we’re not making any long-term plans. We’re not going to leave Ukraine.”
Tetyana said she was “very grateful” to the centre for the support it has given to her family and urged people in the UK and other western nations not to forget Ukraine.
She added that she is still “extremely worried” for her children’s lives and has assembled a backpack full of supplies in case they have to spend time in a bomb shelter.
Tetyana said her youngest child does not understand much of what is going on.
Giving a message to the West, she said: “If they could help us with weapons and don’t forget Ukraine – continue thinking about us.”
Olga Shevchenko, humanitarian director at Depaul Ukraine, said her staff cater for up to 100 people a day and there is a “growing need” for their services.
Before the war, she owned a coffee shop in Kharkiv which employed young people with disabilities, but it was bombed on March 2.
Ms Shevchenko told PA: “I feel like I’m very blessed to have a job and my house was never damaged, Kharkiv was never occupied – I only lost my business.
“So many people who I meet here lost everything in one day – they lost their families, they lost their houses – people from Mariupol, people from the Donbas region, they don’t have anywhere to go.”
Speaking about her work in Kyiv, she said: “I don’t have to be passive about this, I don’t have to feel like a victim or that everything was taken away from me.
“Being able to help others and build a future together and have hopes together is very uplifting for everyone.”
