Themes by tag: dead
In the early days of the all-out war, russian forces seized control of Krasiatychi village in the Kyiv region, where Nadiia Smyrnova resided. Nadiia, alongside her mother and 9-year-old son Sashko, remained in the village. The invaders ransacked their home, even attempting to detonate a grenade, putting the family’s lives at risk. Sashko’s grandmother bravely intervened, shielding her loved ones from harm, despite facing the barrel of russian machine guns. Surviving nearly a month under occupation, the ordeal left a lasting impact on Sashko, who vividly recalls the harrowing experiences shared with his mother and grandmother.
At the onset of the full-blown war, Sashko’s father voluntarily served in defense of Ukraine. Tragically, on August 29, 2022, he fell victim to a russian mine in the Donetsk region. Now, the family receives support from the Children of Heroes charity foundation.
Journalists seeking to interview Nadiia in the Kyiv region must arrange it in advance.
For reference: As of April 2, 2022, the Kyiv region has been completely liberated from russian occupation.
Children of Heroes Charity Fund aids youngsters who’ve lost one or both parents due to russia’s large-scale invasion, offering financial aid, psychological and legal assistance, and fostering their educational and personal growth until adulthood.
Svitlana Trubachova is from Luhansk region. She is the mother of two children: 11-year-old Ihor and 5-year-old Polina. Svitlana’s husband, Volodymyr, served in Ukraine’s Border Guard Service for 18 years. The last time the woman saw her beloved was on February 24, 2022, when he left for work. And at the beginning of March, Troitske village, where the family lived, was occupied by russian troops. The russian soldiers started coming to Svitlana’s house, took the woman away for questioning, and even searched her. They also burned down all the clothes of her husband.
On April 13, 2022, Volodymyr died near Lysychansk. He was buried in Dnipro, and Svitlana could not even go to the funeral, because she was in the occupied territory. She managed to leave Luhansk region only in the summer, and the first thing she did was visit her husband’s grave. And then she went to Kyiv with her children.
Currently, Svitlana works at a center that helps children with autism spectrum disorders. She entered the university and is studying to become a psychologist. Svitlana also runs fundraisers for the Border Guard Service, because she wants other parents to return to their children.
By prior agreement, journalists have the opportunity to talk with Svitlana in Kyiv.
For reference: The Children of Heroes Charity Fund takes care of this family. The fund helps children who lost one or both parents as a result of russia’s full-scale invasion. The fund also provides financial assistance, psychological and legal support, facilitates education and development of children until they reach adulthood.
Before the full-scale war, Olha Leus worked at an administrative service center in Mariupol. She was raising two sons: They are 10-year-old Hera and 16-year-old Mykhailo. Olha’s husband Volodymyr worked at the Azov Shipyard, and shortly before February 24, 2022, at the port.
Despite the escalating concerns about wider war, the family initially chose to remain in Mariupol, hoping for a swift expulsion of the invaders. However, as the situation worsened and the city became blockaded, evacuation became impossible.
Olha experienced relentless russian shelling and bombing for 11 consecutive days, culminating in tragedy on March 20, 2022, when her younger son sustained injuries from an enemy shell hitting their home, leaving him with leg wounds. A week later, her husband tragically passed away after leaving the house and never returning. His body was discovered by his mother-in-law and laid to rest in a local green space that once served as a sports ground.
It wasn’t until April 15, 2022, that Olha and her family were able to escape Mariupol. Following their displacement, the Children of Heroes Charitable Foundation stepped in to provide support, with Olha eventually joining as a specialist in aiding affected families. Meanwhile, her eldest son aspires to become a psychotherapist, aiming to assist those scarred by the horrors of war.
Journalists seeking to speak with Olha can arrange interviews in the Kyiv region.
For reference: After enduring 86 days of fierce defense, Mariupol fell under russian occupation on May 20, 2022. Human Rights Watch reports a staggering civilian death toll of at least 8,000 due to russian shelling, with thousands more suffering life-altering injuries, including amputations, blindness, deafness, and memory loss, often stemming from traumatic brain injuries caused by explosions. By mid-May 2022, approximately 400,000 residents had fled Mariupol, significantly reducing the pre-war population of 540,000.
In the wake of this devastation, the Children of Heroes organization steps in to aid children who have lost one or both parents in the war. The foundation offers financial assistance, psychological and legal support, and advocates for the education and development of these children as they transition into adulthood.
During the press briefing, officials from the Ukrainian Ministry of Veterans Affairs and the National Military Memorial Cemetery will address inquiries regarding the ongoing construction of the National Military Memorial Cemetery. They will also showcase all relevant permits.
Participants:
– Farhad Farhadov, Deputy Minister for Veterans Affairs of Ukraine;
– Yaroslav Starushchenko, Deputy Director of the National Military Memorial Cemetery;
– Oleksandr Krasnolutskyi, Deputy Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine.
All in person.
For reference: The designated sites for the National Military Memorial Cemetery, as determined by the state, are situated within the Hatne territorial community of the Fastiv district, Kyiv region. These sites are in proximity to the village of Markhalivka and the Southern Cemetery (Vita Poshtova). The combined area spans over 265 hectares, with more than 120 hectares earmarked for burial grounds and essential infrastructure to facilitate dignified interments.
Maryna and Mykola are both military; they met in 2019 in the army. The woman had two daughters from a previous marriage — Olena and Oleksandra. Mykola also has a daughter named Milana. At first, the family lived in Mariupol, Donetsk region (now the city is occupied), then they moved to Berdiansk, Zaporizhia region (now the city is occupied).
The couple served in the Azov brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine. In 2020, Mykola resigned from the Azov and joined the Marines. Maryna’s contract ended in November 2021, but she did not want to leave her brothers in arms.
When the full-scale invasion began, Maryna, along with other Azov defenders of Mariupol ended up at the Azovstal plant (i.e. Iron and Steel Works where fierce battles with the enemy took place in the spring of 2022). Mykola wanted to switch with Marina and go to Azovstal instead of her. The woman persuaded him not to do this because at the checkpoint, the russians shot three guys who were on their way to meet their girlfriends, and many others who broke through to the plant went missing. Even then, Maryna understood that she and other military personnel were unlikely to get out of the Azovstal alive. And she asked her husband to take care of her daughters. On May 8, 2022, the woman died in a fire at the Azovstal.
Now Mykola is fighting for the right to adopt his deceased wife’s daughters and give them a happy future. He is purchasing a three-room apartment for the girls in the Kyiv region so they can live together as a family.
With the help of the Children of Heroes Fund, Maryna’s daughters received gifts and visited a rehabilitation camp, which helped them to distract themselves from terrible memories and disturbing thoughts.
For reference: the defense of Mariupol lasted 86 days. Following the order of the command, the Ukrainian defenders stopped putting up the defense, left Azovstal, and surrendered to the enemy. On May 20, 2022, Mariupol was occupied by russia.
The Children of Heroes Charity Fund supports children who have lost one or both parents due to russia’s full-scale invasion. The fund offers financial aid as well as psychological and legal support. The organization helps these children with education and development until they reach adulthood.
As of the beginning of February, 7,889 wards are under the care of the Fund. Of them, 1,062 are IDPs, 151 children have lost their mother and father, 177 are children with disabilities, and 970 are children from large families. Every week, about 80 children are included in the list of recipients of the fund’s help. Among the fund’s children, 88% are kids of military personnel, while the remaining 12% are civilians.
These events are set to unfold across at least 16 cities in Ukraine.
On March 15, demonstrations are planned in Khmelnytskyi and Krolevets (Sumy region).
The following day, March 16, actions will unfold in Dnipro, Pavlohrad, Vinnytsia, and Zaporizhia.
March 17 will see gatherings in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Kremenchuk, Kovel, Ovruch (Zhytomyr region), Kryvyi Rih, Ternopil, Rivne, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Drohobych.
These events are spearheaded by families of prisoners of war from the besieged Mariupol garrison.
For reference: On March 16, 2022, Russian forces dropped an air bomb on the Mariupol Drama Theater, where civilians, including children, sought refuge since the onset of the full-blown war. The devastating air strike resulted in the loss of several hundred lives.
“Darling, I Live on!” is a psychological support project for women who lost their husbands in the war. It operates in Zaporizhia.
In March 2023, activist Yaryna Herashchenko was approached by a family friend who had lost her military husband who asked her for support. Then the women came up with the idea to create the project “Darling, I Live on!” Yaryna’s mother, who is a psychologist, got involved as well.
Over the course of a year, 22 participants joined the project. As part of the initiative, women receive psychological aid and support on their way to recovery. In particular, they take part in various activities: archery, yoga and Thai boxing. Women also participate in field sessions. For example, on the island of Khortytsia, the participants wrote letters to their loved ones, made small paper boats from their messages and sent them down the Dnipro. They also treated each other to their loved ones’ favorite dishes.
The participants are also taking part in two photo projects: “Memory of you” (photos with memorabilia that help the participants tell the stories of their husbands) and “Darling, I Live on!” (“awakening photo shoot”). Group 4 meetings will start in March.
Lutsk resident Tetiana Pototska had been originally running a travel agency that specialized in organizing pilgrimage trips abroad until February 2022, Tetiana shifted her focus when the full-scale invasion began. Moved by a friend’s inability to transport her father’s body from Kharkiv to Lutsk, Tetiana stepped in to assist and has since been tirelessly evacuating fallen soldiers’ remains and transporting them to morgues.
Beyond her duties in retrieving the fallen, Tetiana extends her aid to Ukrainians trapped in occupied regions, particularly those with limited mobility, helping them return to government-controlled territory. Additionally, she devotes herself to caring for the children of fallen defenders, arranging celebratory events and outings to the seaside for them.
Those wishing to interview Tetiana can reach her both offline in Lutsk or through online channels. She is gearing up for another journey to Eastern Ukraine soon.
From March 1 to June 1, Modern Ukraine charity foundation will organize and conduct art therapy master classes in Poltava, Odesa, Vinnytsia, Fastiv, Dnipro, Mykolaiv, Yuzhne, and Kyiv. There will be more than 20 master classes in total. Women who lost their loved ones in the war will take part in the events. The paintings created at the master classes will be shown at exhibitions in Dnipro, Odesa, Ivano-Frankivsk, Novovolynsk and Volodymyr.
“Zhyva. True Love Stories” project is a volunteer initiative that helps Ukrainian women who are experiencing the loss of husbands and fiancés to rediscover the meaning of life and channel their pain into creativity.
More than 100 women have already participated in “Zhyva. TRUE LOVE STORIES” project – they created paintings in memory of their husbands and wrote their own stories for these canvases. Many paintings were on display in the regional exhibitions “PAINTING WITH HEART,” which took place during 2023-2024 in Kyiv, Lviv and Lutsk.
In December 2024, Modern Ukraine foundation will organize a nationwide exhibition featuring works by the participants of the “Zhyva” project in Kyiv.
Journalists are invited to learn more about the project and cover it.
Maryna and Mykola are both military, they met in 2019 in the army. The woman had two daughters from a previous marriage — Olena and Oleksandra. Mykola also has a daughter named Milana. At first, the family lived in Mariupol, Donetsk region (now the city is occupied), then they moved to Berdiansk, Zaporizhia region (now the city is occupied).
The couple served in the Azov brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine. In 2020, Mykola resigned from the Azov and joined the marines. Maryna’s contract ended in November 2021, but she did not want to leave her brothers in arms.
When the full-scale invasion began, Maryna, along with other Azov defenders of Mariupol ended up at the Azovstal plant (i.e. Iron and Steel Works where fierce battles with the enemy took place in the spring of 2022). Mykola wanted to switch with Marina and go to Azovstal instead of her. The woman persuaded him not to do this, because at the checkpoint the russians shot three guys who were on the way to meet their girlfriends, and many others who broke through to the plant went missing. Even then Maryna understood that she and other military personnel were unlikely to get out of the Azovstal alive. And she asked her husband to take care of her daughters. On May 8, 2022, the woman died in a fire at the Azovstal.
Now Mykola is fighting for the right to adopt his deceased wife’s daughters and give them a happy future. He is purchasing a three-room apartment for the girls in Kyiv region so they could live together as a family.
With the help of the Children of Heroes Fund, Maryna’s daughters received gifts and visited a rehabilitation camp, which helped them to distract themselves from terrible memories and disturbing thoughts.
For reference: the defense of Mariupol lasted 86 days. Following the order of the command, the Ukrainian defenders stopped putting up the defense, left Azovstal and surrendered to the enemy. On May 20, 2022, Mariupol was occupied by russia.
The Children of Heroes Charity Fund supports children who have lost one or both parents due to russia’s full-scale invasion. The fund offers financial aid as well as psychological and legal support. The organization helps these children with education and development until they reach adulthood.
As of the beginning of February, 7,889 wards are under the care of the Fund. Of them, 1,062 are IDPs, 151 children have lost their mother and father, 177 are children with disabilities, 970 are children from large families. Every week about 80 children are included into the list of the recipients of the fund’s help. Among the fund’s children, 88% are kids of military personnel, while the remaining 12% are civilians.
