Mother of twins from Severodonetsk mortally wounded in the head. Family needs help
Fear took over once I learned we were going to have twins
Dmytro is 32, and he says he had known Olena for almost half his life.
“We both come from Severodonetsk. We met through a group of friends when I was 18. We were just friends. Then I left for a while to work in Kyiv, rarely visiting home. After returning to Severodonetsk in 2014, I found Lena a week later and asked her to be with me. We never officially registered our marriage… She was kind, understanding, and never indifferent to someone else’s problems. Never argued with people, always looking to find a compromise. Lena worked as an operator at a warehouse, where she was praised for being a people’s person.”
In June 2019, their daughters were born.
“We wanted a child, even planned its birth for summer. My birthday is in winter - cold, not many friends around to celebrate. Summer, on the other hand - everything is blooming, beautiful nature… My maternal grandmother was a twin. You know, when during the first ultrasound scan doctors told us we were having twin girls, I felt fear. Everybody keeps saying how expensive and difficult bringing up a child is. And now twins! Meaning I had to multiply everything by two. The fear evaporated when I entered the hospital ward and saw my girls for the first time. I like the name Marharyta, and my wife liked Myroslava. So that’s what we named them.”
“The den” became a temporary home
Before the girls were born, Dmytro and Olena were renting an apartment. But while his wife was in the hospital, Dmytro moved their stuff to his mother’s place, admitting that he would not be able to support the twins and pay the rent.
“When the full-scale invasion started, we stayed with my mother for about a week. Then moved to Olena’s mother, whose apartment was in the middle of the block, surrounded by other buildings. We thought it would be safer there - no open space. When, after a month, mass shelling became constant, we relocated to the basement of a closed restaurant, The Den. The basement is solid, it’s underground, and it has strong walls. Beside me, Olena and our daughters, Olena’s mother, brother, and a guard with his friend were living there. Our daughters are wonderful, talkative, active, and play well with each other. I brought some toys from our place, and we read a lot of books to them. We wrote “Children” on the restaurant walls. When people living nearby learned about the girls, they brought them more toys. So Marharyta and Myroslava weren’t bored. When everything was still calm, at the very beginning of our stay, we went for walks. But after shelling got closer, my daughters stayedinside at all times.”
The Den Restaurant in Severodonetsk
At first, Dmytro would sneak under shelling to get some groceries, buying them while he still had money. Later, volunteers started giving food away. He says there was enough food, while drinking water was a problem.
“Conversations about evacuation happened more than once. Back in March, I persuaded my mother and sister to relocate to relatives in Khmelnytskyi oblast. I wanted to go, too, with Olena and my daughters. But my wife was against it. She kept saying that Severdonetsk is our hometown and that she didn’t want to leave her mother and elder brother, who, for some reason, didn’t even want to hear about leaving. By the way, they are still there; I don’t know what happened to them.”
She was cooking dinner when the missile hit
The former restaurant had no power. We cooked food on an open fire, which we’d makes near the entrance. They chopped trees when they ran out of firewood.
“May 17 was, by current standards, a normal day for Severodonetsk. Nothing new: constant shelling. I was with the kids in the basement while Olena went outside to cook dinner. Fifteen meters away from her, a missile hit. A fragment hit Olena in the back of her head. When I ran outside, I saw my wife lying on the ground. Her eyes were open, and she was still breathing. I wanted to move her inside in case another missile hit. When I picked up her head, I felt that the bones on the back of her head were completely shattered. I found a volunteer, Serhiy Haididei, who quickly took her to the hospital in his car. Between the moment the missile hit and her arrival in the hospital, twenty minutes had passed at most. I stayed with the girls in the basement. Serhiy spent the night at the hospital, as it was already past curfew. Early in the morning, he came to us and told us that doctors couldn’t save Olena. Now, she is 27 forever. The same volunteer helped with the funeral;I’m very grateful to him. I don’t even know how much it had cost - Serhiy took care of everything. I only collected the death certificate.”
Olena was buried in the new cemetery; it does not yet have a name. Reference point - village Lesnaia Dacha. People who were killed or died after February 24 are buried there. The reason - it is impossible to get to any other cemetery because of constant shelling.
Now I only live for my daughters
Dmytro left Severodonetsk with Marharyta and Myroslava three days after his wife’s death. The same volunteer, Serhiy, helped them get from the basement to the military-civilian administration’s evacuation center. From there, the father and daughters were transported to Lysychansk, where they took a bus to Pokrovsk via Bakhmut and Kramatorsk. They had to drive through the fields, as the roads were under shelling. From Pokrovsk, Dmytro and the children took a train to Vinnytsia. Soon they reached Khmelnytskyi Oblast.
Dmytro, Marharyta, and Myroslava near the bus in Lysychansk
“This is where my mother had evacuated to and where my relatives live. Unfortunately, they had no room for us - since the start of the war they have been sheltering other relatives. So now I am renting a house for a modest price. There is a house on sale in the village, and I plan to buy it to live in with my daughters. Right now, I am busy getting the papers together - I want to sign up Myroslava and Marharyta for pensions and get registered for refugee status. When I have all the necessary documentation, I will get a job at the compound feed plant. They have vacancies; I’ve checked. There is a kindergarten in the village. My brother lives nearby and has kids. So I can leave Marharyta and Myroslava with him sometimes.”
Dmytro, in tears, thanks the villagers who have helped his family.
“Having heard about our troubles, they didn’t stand aside. I didn’t know these people, and they didn’t know me. Yet, they helped us as if we were family. Brought us food, clothes, toys, medicine… The girls have everything they need for right now. Recently they asked, “Where is Mommy?” I told them that she had gone shopping. If not for them, I would probably follow Olena. Now, I only live for my daughters.”
Help Dmytro save up for a house:
Privatbank 4149 6293 4047 6738
Receiver Mosur Dmytro Ivanovych
