Tetiana and her family experienced the beginning of a full-scale invasion in Kherson. Every day felt like their last due to constant bombings. For nine months, they had been living under occupation, enduring searches and daily fear. Tetiana recalls how civilians frequently disappeared. That’s why they never went out at night.

But Tetiana’s greatest fear was for her daughter, who continued to commute to work on the other side of the city and could vanish at any moment. Eventually, that day came. In early November, the bridge connecting Kherson was blown up, leaving Tetiana’s daughter trapped. The Ukrainian military liberated the right bank where Tetiana and her 10-year-old granddaughter Kira were, but heavy Russian shelling came there.

To save her granddaughter, Tetiana decided to evacuate, and they arrived at a center called “Hope and Healing” in Kyiv in spring. Tetiana said, ‘It was a blessing for us. At the center, we received psychological help, underwent various rehabilitation courses, and found peace. Then we were offered a house within the Fort Home project that we gladly agreed.’

From the first days in the modular house in the Chernivtsi region, we provided Tetiana and her granddaughter with all possible assistance – from humanitarian to social support. Today, Tetiana says they managed to recover mentally, and Kira finally smiles. The girl only dreams of her mother’s return, and every day, she prays with her grandmother for her to escape from the occupation.