Tetiana’s Story

Tetiana, a 68-year old pensioner, was forced to evacuate herself and her granddaughter, 13-year old Veronica, from Kharkov when the war began. They fled to Russia to be with Veronika’s mother Iryna, a 42-year old economist and musician.

Hoping to get to safety fast, they had bought train tickets for leaving on Friday – the shelling began on Thursday. As Kharkov came under attack from heavy artillery, they hid in the basement of their multi-story building.

On the fourth day of war, Veronica’s father, a surgeon, managed to take them to his hospital while under fire. They hid together in the hospital’s basement waiting for some sign of hope.

On the 14th day of war, friends came to help Tetiana and Veronica get to the railway station, putting them on a train crowded with evacuees. The train arrived in Lviv 30 hours later, late in the evening.

With great difficulty, grandmother and granddaughter found a place to sleep in Lviv, a city overflowing with war refugees. They will try to cross the Polish border in the near future, hoping that Veronica’s mother, Iryna, will also be there to reunite the family.