MEET VALERIIA

Valeriia and her two children are from the city of Berdyansk, Zaporizhzhia region, which is located in the southeast of Ukraine. For more than 10 years, Valeriia worked as a teacher in the gymnasium, where her children also studied. They also attended sports and art schools, have classes in artistic gymnastics and sports acrobatics. On the first day of the war, Russian troops shelled the outskirts of the city.

The city has been under occupation since February 27. Since the beginning of the occupation, Valeriia took an active part in the work of the humanitarian center, which was organized in her educational institution and provided assistance to refugees from Mariupol. But later her aid center was closed by the enemy, pro-Ukrainian peaceful rallies were brutally suppressed. The invaders created a humanitarian disaster and an informational collapse in the city, broke into homes, robbed, kidnapped and tortured the civilian population. It became more and more dangerous to be in the city therefore she had to leave the city for the sake of her children.

On October 6, the family arrived to New York leaving their native home, friends, relatives with the hope of returning to the Ukrainian Berdyansk.