Alla Bronislavivna and Andriy Ivanovych live in the town of Hansen in the Kyiv region.
The man has a prosthetic leg and uses a wheelchair. The woman has had both legs replaced with prosthetics since her youth, and one of her arms is non-functional. Here they have their own little house and a small garden where they grow flowers and their own vegetables: tomatoes, onions, garlic, a few carrots, and some peppers. Last year, they preserved their cucumbers. Alla attends clubs and workshops to take her mind off things.
The couple left Bakhmut in early April 2022—with the help of an organization for people with disabilities. They left with whatever clothes they were wearing. They lived in Novi Sanzhary, Uman, and Kremenchuk.
“We kept putting off leaving: one minute we’d pack our bags, the next we’d unpack them. Andriy had just suffered two strokes at the time. You’d run from the house to the summer kitchen, terrified. It was rumbling and booming… A shell landed about three meters from the house and didn’t explode. It’s scary to die. You want to live.”
They met in their youth at a prosthetics clinic in Kharkiv. She’s from Bakhmut. He’s from Kupiansk. They did everything together: they raised goats, tended vegetable gardens—it was all theirs. But in 2023, a shell destroyed their home.
This is a story about a difficult but vital decision. Find out now about social benefits, housing, and transportation for timely evacuation by calling the hotline at 1548. It will be difficult, but in the end, everything will be okay.
