Mrs. Larisa together with her granddaughters, 12-year-old Daria and 6-year-old Sofia, didn’t want to leave their native home in Bakhmut, despite frequent shelling since the beginning of the full-scale war. They lived under the explosions with the hope that the russians would retreat soon. It happened in 2014. And in 2022, the enemy wasn’t going to stop powerful attacks on the strategically important Bakhmut.

One day Mrs. Larisa and her children were preparing dinner when suddenly there was a loud landing, a shock wave, and broken glass flying around all the rooms. The family didn’t hear how the russian rocket had flown. The projectile hit a house nearby, and all the windows in the Shchukin family’s house were blown out. Then Daria and little Sofia were frightened and their grandmother realized that they couldn’t drag on any further – they had to save the children.

At this time in Bakhmut, schools, kindergartens, shops, and public institutions are closed. And the city mayor calls on parents with children to evacuate. Ms. Larisa didn’t know where to go with the girls. The woman called all her friends and one of them recommended going to Chernivtsi. That’s what the family did.

Volunteers evacuated the family under shelling, and already in Chernivtsi, one of the local churches sheltered them. However, there were many affected families here, so within a month, the tired grandmothers and grandchildren went to the village of Vovchynets in search of peace and quiet, which the girls needed so much. The children were still in shock. It constantly seemed to them that a rocket was about to fall from somewhere, but the ringing in their ears never subsided.

In the village, the Shchukin family also changed two shelters in search of comfortable conditions, when finally our team offered Mrs. Olena to settle in a modular house, which has everything necessary for life. The woman was indescribably grateful and happy that her granddaughters would finally have their own corner of safety and be able to recover.

Nowadays, Daria and Sofia have really fallen in love with the picturesque Vovchynets near the mountains: here they found new friends, study and spend the summer as children should – without rockets and fear for their lives.