Ukraine conflict: We spent months in an underground shelter
When shelling destroyed their home, Ana and her family spent months living in an underground shelter in harrowing conditions. They are now safe in Dnipro, where we are working with our partner HelpAge International to provide older refugees and their families with hot meals and essentials.
Ana, 62, spent two months in the underground shelter with her family, including her 92-year-old mother Rima, after their home in Severodonetsk, Eastern Ukraine was destroyed. The shelter may have kept them safe during the bombing, but without working utilities, living in the shelter was not easy.
“In the early days of the war, it had been okay and we were just hoping that it would be over soon. Then a lot of shelling started. The situation got worse and soon we were cooking on the fire outside.
“There was no electricity, no running water. We were often eating dry bread and had to start a fire three times a day. Just before we left, the season changed and it started to rain, so it was really difficult to light it.
“We had three birthdays during our time in the shelter. My mother turned 92 on February 24, the first day of war, mine was on April 10, the day our house was destroyed, and Anastasia’s was on April 25, the day she learned to chop wood for the fire.
“When the shelling started, the ATMs stopped working so I pretty much spent the whole time with 40 kopeks (0,14 USD) I had in my pocket. I still have them. For food, we would run up to our apartment in quiet periods to bring supplies down, and those who were evacuating left their products for us.”
Despite the difficult conditions, Ana and her family were lucky to escape the shelling. She told us how an older person had been found dead, after being stranded in a seventh-floor apartment without support and family unable to reach her.
“There are many graves in courtyards of residential blocks. My niece Anastasia, 48, would ask for help from Baba Yaga (a supernatural being in Slavik folklore) at a tree stump in the yard each day.
All four generations of her family were finally evacuated with the help of a humanitarian organisation in mid-May - her mother, her niece, her niece’s son, not forgetting their pets. They are now living in a shelter in Dnipro and considering their next steps.
“My son is 30 and lives in San Diego, US. I would like to go to him, but the flight is too long for my mother and we have seven cats and a dog. We also rescued a hamster that was left behind in Severodonetsk by its owners when they fled, and an axolotl that we found abandoned in the basement of our house. We couldn’t just leave them. “
On the day we left, we were crying. I was hysterical - even, you know - punching the evacuation driver, asking him to let me kiss my front door one last time.
“We were told that my mother would be provided with medical care once we made it to a shelter in Dnipro. That hasn’t happened yet, but we are hopeful it will soon. She needs blood pressure medicine.
“My mother, Rima is okay. She's in sound mind, but she has difficulties walking, especially up and down from the basement. It was very challenging and spending such a long time down there took a toll on her.
“Now we are trying to get on an evacuation train so we can go to Poland. They are free, but if you’re not lucky enough to get a place, you have to pay and we don’t have much. We are in contact with a church we hope will help.”
Whatever their next steps are, Age International is making sure that older people like Ana and her mother who have been displaced from their homes get the support they need.
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