Oksana (38), Sofia (12), twins Varvara and Zlata (10)

Wednesday, March 16, 22, Zilina

A family - a mother with three girls caught my eye in an open space with a capacity of 150 people. The children ran around and played with a box of beads. I guess they didn't bring them from home, but they came from public humanitarian donations. However, it is difficult to see how Ukrainian children can play with only small pieces of paper or a few beads. They had to leave all their toys, friends, everything they knew at home. I could see that Oksana was very tired, she was on the phone all the time, obviously stressed out, but she has spoken to me for at least a little while. I took pictures of them and, like the others, I promised to send them the photos I took. At least for a moment, I managed to put a smile on her face. 

"We ran away in order to protect our children from the war. They were very scared of the sounds of the sirens. We had to leave because of them, we had to look for safety. We arrived at two o'clock this morning. Many members of my family stayed at home, but we are in contact with them through Viber and Whatsapp. We communicate with each other all the time. We do not know yet what will happen next. We need to calm down first and get some rest."

"I would like to tell the Russians that we want peace and that we want to return home to Ukraine. Let them take it to the streets and show Putin that they too want peace and not war."

"Many volunteers help us here, for which we are grateful. We know some people in Poland, we are in contact with them, and we will work together to resolve this situation. We still don't know where we will go and what is going to happen to us."