STOROZHYNETS, Ukraine — Horrifying images coming out of Ukraine sheds even more light on the ongoing humanitarian crisis caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
”The truth of the matter is, you saw what happened in Bucha, he is a war criminal,” said President Biden.
Images of civilian bodies lining the streets of Bucha, Ukraine are being described as war crimes by leaders around the world.
Yet it’s not only the civilians who have lost their lives that are suffering the horrors of this war.
”She was hiding under the table for a week because there was nowhere else to hide, and there was no electricity, no water, no gas, nothing,” said Halyna, 82-year-old from Irpin, Ukraine.
Halyna was able to escape the vicious attacks only to leave her once safe home in rubble.
”My house is bombed right now. I don’t have a place to come back to. There are a lot of mines everywhere, even in the rivers. Every other house is bombed," she said.
Halyna was able to travel over 500 miles and find help with Karitas, a small charitable group located in Storozhynets.
But she is not alone. Svitlana and her young son Andriy made it to Storozhynets from Kharkiv after days of hiding in terror.
”Everyone was just terrified," Svitlana said. She also mentioned they spent 11 days in the underground station.
Svitlana had to leave her son once a day to take care of her injured mother and ill grandfather.
Svitlana said every day she ventured out she would pray to be able to come back to her son whom she left in the underground station.
Svitlana and Andriy were forced to leave their loved ones behind in Kharkiv making her and Andriy one of the thousands seeking refuge alongside Halyna in Storozhynets.
”I am an old person. I don’t know what to do. Where do I go? Who's going to help us? Help us please,” said Halyna.
The help she asks for is to end the war and once again feel safe in the rubble that was once their home.
