Alla is one of many whose homes were destroyed during the massive bombardment of Zaporizhzhia in October 2022.
With the beginning of the full-scale war, Zaporizhzhia became a frontline city. People who managed to leave the non-government-controlled areas find refuge here. However, many don’t stay in this city for long and move on. One of the reasons is the fear of repeated shelling.
On the eve of October 9, 12 missiles were launched at civilian infrastructure and residential areas of Zaporizhzhia. An apartment building in the northern part of the city also became a target of the terror attack: a missile destroyed the entire section of a nine-story building. At the time, Alla lived in the neighboring apartment building.
The woman is 51 years old. She works as a teacher, raising her 17-year-old son on her own and caring for her elderly mother. She lived almost all her life in an apartment that was damaged by the missile attack.
At the moment of impact, the blast wave went through the entire apartment. The impact was so powerful that it didn’t just break the windows, it tore off the heating batteries and destroyed the wall separating the rooms. “The only thing that survived was the refrigerator,” Alla says, showing us the apartment that used to be her home. “Everything else is wrecked, so we just threw it away. I still have some clothes left, but the child was left naked and barefoot.”
Her son sustained numerous injuries and required a total of 25 stitches to mend the wounds on his face. “Then I started moving between apartments and treating my son. You know, for the first three days, we were happy to be alive. Then we spent a week throwing things away and didn’t realize what had happened. And then the depression set in.”
After the tragedy, it was difficult for her to return to work. “With a heavy heart, I find myself daily in an online classroom, mustering the strength to greet the young learners with a ‘Good morning, we’re doing well.’ And this dual identity is very difficult to maintain. But I realize that I am looking at the little children of our deeply suffering country.”
Now Alla lives with her son in a rented apartment. It is located nearby, so Alla returns to the destroyed house from time to time. She hopes that she will soon be able to repair her damaged house and return to her original home. “At first, my son begged: ‘Mom, let’s go to Poland.’ But now we are very happy to have stayed. We love both Zaporizhzhia and our Ukraine. We do not see ourselves in a foreign country.”
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The project Humanitarian Assistance to Besieged Cities and IDP-Hosting Locations Inside Ukraine is implemented by the Charity Foundation Stabilization Support Services with the support of the humanitarian organization CARE.Ukraine.
Photos: Myriam Renaud