With four kids across half of Europe: how a family from Kyiv under shelling appeared on the pages of a German newspaper

Daryna told her story to the Espreso.West journalist.

For two days, a family of seven traveled from the village of Gorbovychi near Kyiv to Lviv. Four children - aged 9 and 5 years, two twin girls of 6 months, a grandmother, a man, and a woman herself. All seven, together with her husband's parents, lived in the village from the beginning of the war to the sound of shelling. At first they waited, but when the shots began to ring out very loudly and, according to the sensations, the front line came close, Daryna, the mother of four children, decided to leave as far as possible from danger.

“We didn’t want to leave Kyiv at all. We hoped that we were safe here. But with the first shots, this confidence was dispelled. We moved to the relatives of a man in the village, spent almost two weeks there. But after a few days, the shelling got there. Not close, but already somewhere in 20 kilometers from the village.

The kids lost a lot of weight during the time we lived in the basement, stressed and did not want to eat. The two older children were also worried. It was such a moment that we decided to go. It took us two days to get to Lviv, because at that time there were still many roadblocks and there was not enough gasoline at gas stations.  When we arrived to our friends in Lviv, we exhaled a little, rested.

We stayed in Lviv for four more days, rested from the road, took a walk.  And then decided to go to relatives in Germany - they live in Bavaria".

Daryna says that it took another 15 hours to drive from the Slovak border. When they arrived at their destination, they were very touched. In the German city of Zwiesel, they were met by relatives and five volunteers.

"We were greeted like family, and it was clear that they were waiting. With a package of gifts, with everything you need at first. For children, there were already cribs, chairs, clothes, food, diapers  and everything else".

The woman says that for now they live with relatives, but soon they will be able to look for housing independently and go to work.

"So far, we have only passed the first registration out of two. Then we have to submit the next package of documents, and after that you can look for work, housing, etc. The first registration is to inform that we are here. And the next one gives more opportunities.

Shortly: Germans are very helpful and supportive. Today I almost burst into tears when I saw a form from a bank in the center for helping Ukrainians - schoolchildren of this town collected money for help. 10,659 euros. They still buy what they ask for from Ukraine, and weekly they transfer it by the bus that brought us. In addition, the drawings of elementary school students, who also collect money at auctions at school, are touching. The German told me that they are constantly drawing pictures - in the classroom, after school, on breaks", says the refugee.

According to Daryna, Ukrainians in the view of Germans (at least those around them) are a symbol of invincibility and strong will. And they even wrote about their large family in the local newsletter.