Lyudmila, 54, lives in Kherson in a one-bedroom apartment with her daughter Galina, 30; grandson Vasyl, 18 months; son, 20; son-in-law, 32; and five dogs and a red cat. A small apartment is littered with clothes donated by neighbors. The family has nothing else left because Russian drones burned their house.
Lyudmila cries and says, “Nothing foreshadowed the war. We lived quietly in our own house, my children and I. We have been building this house for 15 years. It was a large, beautiful two-story home we loved more than anything in this world.
“In the first three days of the war, planes, artillery and tanks started hell, and we hid in the basement. Then, Russians seized Kherson and we lived nine months under occupation. Russian soldiers came to our house, and I was worried sick they would take away my son.
“My daughter was pregnant with twins, but one baby died of stress after a rocket landed. The second one lived. When the Ukrainian army liberated Kherson, we left for Mykolaiv and moved around the country a bit to avoid strikes and Vasyl was born there. We lived there for four months until Iranian-made Russian Shahid drones fell close to us.
“We were scared and returned home to Kherson, to our beloved home, and lived there until the end of January 2025. We got so tired of wandering, and there was not enough money to live elsewhere.
“Next, shells, rockets, mines, tank shells, drones and guided aerial bombs flew at us again, and we decided to live in the basement. We slept in the basement, with our many dogs and cats. The artillery shells were falling all around. My son was screaming, ‘Mom, I want to live, I don’t want to die! Save me.’
“Once my daughter was in the basement, and my son and I were on the second floor. She thought we were dead, and she didn’t even have time to say goodbye. She thought that we were killed because eight drones were shooting at our house at the time.
“We lived without electricity and gas for three years. By the time we left, there was no water.
“From July 2024, drones started chasing civilians, women and children. I was being chased by drones when I was feeding homeless dogs and cats. One drone followed me as I walked with buckets of food and water for the animals. I hid under the trees, and they still tracked me down. This one dog ran after me, wagging its tail. I was afraid to approach the house, so as not to attract Russians’ attention.
“Stray dogs came to our basement to hide as they were afraid of drones.
“Since October 2024, 28 drones have attacked our house. We are just civilians, a family, my children and a grandson, with no military personnel nearby. Yet, Russians would set fire to our house at night. Seven fires per night. My son was extinguishing fires and almost suffocated.
“The first drone threw an incendiary projectile into a large window and was followed by two more. Three days later, the drones threw another incendiary projectile into another window on the second floor on the other side of the house. They threw four or five shells. For two days, they threw incendiary shells every half hour.
“We did not sleep for three days, putting out fires. We dragged the hoses to the second floor. I also put out fires for neighbors, old people.
“Then in November and December, drones made holes in our roof. We kept repairing it.
“On Jan. 11, 2025, a kamikaze drone flew into the kitchen window and broke everything there. A fire started, and we put it out again. A drone also crashed our car.
“On Jan. 15, eight drones flew onto the balcony. They broke the roof again. There were so many holes in the roof.
“On Jan. 23, we decided to evacuate but the authorities told us that they would take us without our dogs and cats. We cried and said that we would not go. We finally escaped at night with our neighbor.”
On Jan. 30, Russians burned Lyudmila’s house, the car and everything in the house. She is afraid to show her face to the camera.
“If Russians return, they can take us out in droves and shoot us. When Russian soldiers evacuated Ukrainians from Kherson in November 2022, they said that everyone who remained was a traitor waiting for the Ukrainian army. They can come back and shoot us. They do not leave anyone behind.
“The first time during the occupation, Russians grabbed everyone who had a pro-Ukrainian position. Four hundred children were tortured in the basement. They put bags over people’s heads and took them away, and relatives did not know where to look for them. Women were raped. They did whatever they wished and said that they were liberating us and their lands. They lied as it was always Ukraine.
“We are afraid that Kherson will be captured again, that the Russians will come and shoot us, kill us. They destroyed our houses and will kill us. We don’t trust them.
“And you know, we speak Russian at home. No one forces us to speak Ukrainian. No one mocks or forbids it. I can speak Ukrainian, but at home, I speak Russian because I was born and lived in Russia. My mother brought me here and Ukraine became my home. In my passport, the place of birth is indicated as the Russian Federation and I am ashamed of it.
“All my life I was proud that I was born in the north of Russia and I raised my children myself; I am a strong woman. I never expected that the Russians would come and kill peaceful people, and children. Do you know how many children died in Kherson?
“I am 54 years old, but life seems to have ended. Our souls are broken, crippled, torn to pieces.
“Russians decided that we are Nazis, fascists. Why? We lived quietly, worked, raised children and gave them education. Our government did not suppress us. And in one moment everything was gone.
“Now we do not sleep at night. We have no means to live. We have nothing left. Children’s things, family photos—all gone. We had everything for a happy life and in an instant, everything was gone. There are no books or children’s toys. They came and burned our peaceful house. They saw my daughter walking in the yard with a stroller. Five people in our family became homeless. How do we heal?”
Lyudmila and Natalia ask what had happened to the United States.
“We believed that American President Trump would help us end the war. Before the election, he promised to end it in 24 hours. We waited, and we prayed. We believed that Europe and the USA would help us.
“But when Zelenskyy went to the White House for negotiations, what happened there? Scandal, some kind of circus. In Ukraine, we did not understand anything, and we lost faith and hope.
“Going to bed is torture. Every night, children dream that they are being killed. And I dream that I am walking around our beautiful house, and I see it burning. I wake up and I know it is no longer there. Only ashes remain.”
