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War leaves scars in places other than the battlefield. It messes up people’s lives, breaks up families, and puts normal people in unusual situations. The war between Russia and Ukraine started in 2014 and got much worse in 2022. The world has seen not only how badly cities were destroyed, but also how strong and brave the people who were stuck in it were. Every bombed-out building and shelled town has a story of how people managed to stay alive. These stories show how driven Ukrainians are to live, love, and hope even though things are crazy.
The Day the Sky Broke
Olena, who is 34 years old, lived a peaceful life in Mariupol until it wasn’t. The 24th of February 2022 started out like any other morning. When the first bombs went off, she was making breakfast for her two young children. “At first, I thought it was thunder,” she says. When the windows broke and the walls shook, though, she knew it was much worse.
She grabbed her kids and ran to the basement, carrying only a bag of things she had prepared weeks before. The family huddled in the dark for days while listening to the shelling. “The hardest part was keeping my kids calm when I wasn’t calm myself,” Olena says.
When there was a short truce, Olena had to make the very hard choice to leave her home. She got…
