Ukraine speaks

Real Stories. Actual Pain. True Heroes. Active Healing.

Mariupol survivor: My young children asked me if it hurts to die

Originally published by Mansur Mirovalev on aljazeera on June 7, 2022 https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/6/7/mariupol-survivor-mom-does-it-hurt-to-die A 28-year-old mother recounts her harrowing ordeal in Mariupol, where she was surrounded by death and destruction. Kyiv, Ukraine – Halyna, a 28-year-old woman from the southern Ukrainian city… Continue Reading…


Stories flowing with tears

Originally posted on Fundacja Otwarty Dialog by Łukasz Puławski on September 12, 2022 https://odfoundation.eu/a/444891,historie-lzami-plynace-opowiesci-naszych-podopiecznych-z-ukrainy/ Every day, volunteers and employees of the Open Dialog Foundation meet dozens of people escaping the hell of war and their stories. The war in Ukraine… Continue Reading…


“A man was being killed for an hour and a half. I prayed: God, take him away”

Originally posted on onetinformation by translation: Anastasiia Morozova / frontstory.pl June 13, 2023 at 4:40 pm, photos: Dmytro Replianchuk / slidtsvo.info https://www.onet.pl/informacje/frontstory/half-hours-zabijano-czlowieka-modlilem-sie-boze-zabierz-go/20724ks,30bc1058 The text is a reprint of an article by Slidstvo.Info – a team of independent investigative journalists from… Continue Reading…


A year in my life: A Ukrainian teenager shares her story of surviving war

Originally posted on Save the Children https://www.savethechildren.org/us/charity-stories/internally-displaced-ukraine-child-survivor For our village in eastern Ukraine, the beginning was on February 17, 2022. I was having physics classes online when we first heard explosions ten kilometers away. They then began to land on nearby… Continue Reading…


Dramatic stories of survival, endurance and escape reign as Ukrainian Jews mark 1 year of war

Originally posted on Global by Deborah Danan on February 24, 2023 9:01am https://www.jta.org/2023/02/24/global/dramatic-stories-of-survival-endurance-and-escape-reign-as-ukrainian-jews-mark-1-year-of-war Most of the passengers on the flight from Chisinua, Moldova, to Tel Aviv earlier this month were subdued. Some had just witnessed scene after scene of hardship on a… Continue Reading…


“Killing Was a Game for Russians”

Originally posted on Foregin Policy by Liz Cookman on 24 February, 2023 Liz Cookman is a journalist based in Ukraine covering the human cost of the war. Twitter: @Liz_Cookman https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/02/24/ukraine-russia-putin-war-crimes-bucha-kherson/ The war in Ukraine is a year old. Here are the stories of… Continue Reading…


My advice to other kids as a refugee from Ukraine? Appreciate what you have

Originally posted on UNHCR USA by Daria Nastasiuk in Chisinau, Moldova, 18 May 2022, as told to Charlie Dunmore and Irina Odobescu. Photos by © UNHCR/Andrew McConnell https://www.unhcr.org/en-us/news/stories/2022/5/6284e9944/advice-other-kids-refugee-ukraine-appreciate.html In the early weeks of Ukraine’s conflict, 15-year-old Daria Nastasiuk’s world was turned… Continue Reading…


“I focused on survival”: Mariupol escapee tells her story of one month in besieged city 

Pierwotnie opublikowane przez Aleksandar Brezar  15/04/2022 na https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2022/04/15/i-focused-on-survival-mariupol-escapee-tells-her-story-of-one-month-in-besieged-city While the cruelty toward Ukrainian civilians projected through photographs and news segments bewilders the world, the ongoing siege of Mariupol continues to be the most shocking in its levels of destruction and absolute… Continue Reading…


After 40 days in a bomb shelter, two Ukrainian refugees and 17 dogs are ready to start a new life in Poland

Originally posted by Gabriel Kinder, CNN , June 16, 2022 at 1:28 p.m. EDT on https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/16/world/ukraine-dog-rescue-poland-refugees-cnnheroes/index.html When CNN Hero Aaron Jackson welcomed the first group of dogs from Ukraine to the abandoned animal shelter he’s reopened in Poland, he also… Continue Reading…


Mariupol survivors, dazed and exhausted, describe horrors they endured

Originally posted by Louisa Loveluck and David L. Stern, April 21, 2022 at 5:18 p.m. EDT on https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/04/21/mariupol-survivors-convoy-describe-horrors/ Stern reported from Mukachevo, Ukraine. Eugene Lakatosh in Zaporizhzhia and Mary Ilyushina in Riga, Latvia, contributed to this report. ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine —… Continue Reading…