76-year-old Orlova Zinaida and bedridden Alexandra Shelepova are the only two persons who still live a 5-storey building of war-affected Krasnohorivka, eastern Ukraine.
The rest of their neighbors had left or died.
“A life like this is a blatant injustice! Nobody needs war! We are left here on our own. I can barely move around myself and here I have my neighbor who is bedridden and I just can’t leave her die on her own. It’s only human of me to stay and care for her…”
“We had survived some heavy shelling when they were shooting from both sides… And now my windows are broken, the balcony is destroyed, the wallpaper came off! We have so many empty apartments now with broken windows and the cold buzzing through entire building! All of that wasn’t enough for our sufferings….
Now, our local authorities cut all electricity supply inside of our communal hallway! The darkness is scary at night! What if we ever need to call an ambulance at night, how in the world will they be able to climb to up to the 4th floor?! They have to stumble with a flashlight through all these bags of fuel and bottles of water at the entrance! It turns out that our government doesn’t think we are people any more – they have deprived us even of electricity…”
“We live in an era of destruction…
Our apartments have turned into a barn. Before the war, we had beautiful homes with individual heating in each apartment, it was clean and beautiful. And now after the war came to our town, all of the gas pipes have been blown up and we have to live in the cold. Some people installed potbelly stoves in their one-room apartments and everything is covered with smoke. But at least we can warm up a little … ”- Zinaida Orlova told us sobbing.
Over 3.5 million people are still living in the conflict zone. 1 million of them are elderly people aged 60+.
Thanks to CBN’s partnership with the UN Ukraine Humanitarian Fund, 200 most vulnerable families in Maryinka and Krasnohorivka were provided with solid fuel for the winter.
Thousands of families are forced to live in isolation without an access to vital services, regularly experiencing violations of their human rights.
Everyone who is reading this article can participate and donate any comfortable amount of money for our winterization projects to help people like Zinaida and Alexandra.
Material: Anna Chaban
