March 30, 2022 News

Her husband is in the war, her parents are in war-torn Kharkiv. Yet Lyuba does not give up

Ukraine's second-largest city - Kharkiv, a city of 1.5 million - has been the centre of fierce fighting and massive bombardment since the Russian invasion has begun. That is why forty-year-old Lyuba fled to Drohobych with her four-year-old son Bogdan. Luyba had to leave her husband behind as he is enlisted in the army, and their parents, who are too old to move and do not want to leave their hometown. Lyuba has not seen her parents or her husband for several weeks. Still, she believes that they will all be reunited soon.

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Staying in Ukraine, yet 1000 km from home

Lyuba, like hundreds of thousands of other war refugees, does not want to leave her homeland. That is why she decided to remain in the west of the country with her son. From shelled Kharkiv, they went by train to Lviv, from where they moved south to the city of Drohobych. Here Lyuba has a friend and got help from the local Caritas organisation.

"They gave us water, food, bed and warmth. What more can a person with a small child in this situation ask for. There are kindergartens open here. I will go there with my soon to see if they can offer some job for me,” says Lyuba, who used to sell windows for a living in Kharkiv, and even in this extreme situation, she does not want to just sit and do nothing.

There may be nowhere to go back to

Her husband worked in Kharkiv as manager of a cake shop, but as he had studied medicine, he left for the army shortly after the invasion began. "My husband is always on duty, so we cannot see each other. But we are in contact. When we win this war, the three of us will return home together, to our Kharkiv," Lyuba believes, although she also realises that their house could have been destroyed.

Lyuba says the situation in the big cities is improving. She says there are fewer shootings around Kyiv and Kharkiv, and her prayers are now directed mainly to besieged Mariupol. "The Russians are no longer so brazen in negotiations and they listen to arguments from our side. I believe and hope that no later than next month the war will end," Lyuba concludes.

The war in Ukraine has forced 10 million people to leave their homes. Most of them are women, children or the elderly, who desperately need at least basic care - water, food, warmth or medicine.

Help us to ensure people like Lyuba get the basic care. Thank you for helping with us.