Thanks to listening to the operators of Caritas-Spes of Odessa, we have received these three stories of displaced people, people forced to leave the city of Kherson after the great emergency caused by the destruction of the Nova Kakhovka dam . They, like many others, are assisted by Caritas-Spes Ukraine thanks to the funds raised by AMU and AFN .
Olga fled Kherson with her son and parents after the Russians blew up the Nova Kakhovka dam and the city was partially flooded. She couldn’t take it anymore, she had endured enough under the Russian occupation when every move, every necessity of life had become a risk. So when the military began to demand that the child attend a Russian school, she felt it was time to leave.
Mr. Mykola
he faced a long journey across Russia to reach Odessa and find the possibility of continuing to live despite the war. The man’s stories are detailed; he too comes from Kherson: living in that city occupied by the Russians had become the most dangerous and difficult thing, but this was not the greatest test to overcome. He was outside the city when the Ukrainian troops, advancing to liberate Kherson, cut off the road connections. Mr. Mykola remained isolated in Russian-controlled territory for six long months. Later, when the Russians destroyed the Kakhovskaya dam, he managed to escape and reach Odessa. An escape that lasted ten days.
When water from the dam flooded the Ostriv district of Kherson, 
Lyudmila and her family initially thought and hoped that the flood would pass quickly. So they moved to a safer part of the city, waiting to be able to return to their home, which they had not abandoned even because of the Russian occupation. But the flood left them in a position where they could no longer choose, they had to leave. In Odessa, in the offices of Caritas-Spes, Lyudmila recalls those months with tears in her eyes: “It was terrible, we lived in constant fear.” There was a checkpoint by Russian soldiers under their home, and every time they had to leave they were stopped and searched. Even a tattoo with Ukrainian symbols could become a danger: “Now we can only hope for the best.”
