@actionaiduk

Nataliya*, 19, and her mother Daryna* are Ukrainian refugees from Odessa. The first day of the war, they fled to Mykolaiv thinking it would be safer than Odessa, but it was heavily bombed by Russia. ⁣ ⁣ Now, they have fled to Moldova and are volunteering at Moldova for Peace to help other refugees settle. ⁣ ⁣ “We feel safe in Moldova physically,” Nataliya says. “But our psychology is still bad. In this respect, we don’t feel safe at all. My house, my friends, my family, my dad are in Ukraine. The other day we had a walk with my mom here in Chisinau and a car started to make a noise and we were so scared, my mom started to cry. That was a hard moment in which we realised that we are now afraid of loud sounds. ⁣ ⁣ “People here are very friendly and make us feel like we are at home, but we are not. Still, we cannot believe that this is happening. We are here now, we see the photos, the videos but still I don’t believe that in the 21st century, this is happening - a war and people are dying. Soldiers are killing kids and women; I really cannot believe it.” ⁣ ⁣ “We weren’t aware of how happily we were living before,” Daryna says. “Our house was beautiful. We were there with Nataliya and our dog. We really can't wait for the moment when we can go back. ⁣ ⁣ “We hope but we can see how the situation is right now and we don’t know what will happen next, but we all want to go back. We are really waiting for this. We need to rebuild our country, it is our duty. ⁣ ⁣ “We often cry. We never expected that the war would touch us. My grandfather had fought in Kursk and was telling me that the war is hell on earth. I don’t understand how Russia is repeating it, I don’t. Now our life is divided into before and after the war.” ⁣ ⁣ *Names changed to protect identity ⁣ ⁣ #ukrainewar #helpukraine #moldova #ukrainerefugees #helprefugees #moldova_today #igmoldova