“New windows were our New Year miracle”
“New windows were our New Year miracle”
After UNHCR replaced the damaged windows in her apartment, Tetiana’s family was able to stay warm at home in Kharkiv, the second-largest city in Ukraine that suffers from relentless Russian attacks.
It has already been three years since the aerial attack damaged her home in Kharkiv in July 2022, but Tetiana still remembers every single detail of that day.
She was in her kitchen holding a cup of water, when six loud explosions rocked her neighbourhood, and suddenly everything around her turned upside down. The blast wave pushed her to the floor, when a missile hit nearby damaging her apartment on the ground floor. The windows were smashed into pieces flying in all directions.
“It was very scary. I was extremely worried for my husband who had just had a stroke, fearing that he could get worse. And for my three cats, who I could not find amid this chaos,” Tetiana recalls.
The experience left Tetiana and her husband deeply distressed and traumatized. Despite the risks, they made the difficult decision to remain in their home in northern Saltivka – a neighbourhood in Kharkiv city that was previously home to about 40,000 people. Continued Russian shelling has left many towering apartment blocks marked with shell holes. About 70 percent of the residential buildings were damaged, some beyond repair, local officials state – and the population in the area is now only a few thousand people.
Three years on, Kharkiv remains under continuous attack. Each time explosions sound close-by – she suffers from panic attacks:
“There is no proper shelter nearby. I am afraid to stay inside during aerial attacks. Our rooms are very small and face the windows. There is no place to hide, so I prefer to run outside and wait until it is over.”
Since the attack, Tetiana could not seal the windows properly, and they remained covered with wooden boards and plastics tape. For two winters, the couple endured freezing temperatures inside their apartment, often sleeping wearing several layers of clothes.
“It was only 14 degrees indoors — we were cold all the time,” she says.
That changed in December 2024, when UNHCR installed new, triple-glazed windows in their home. These are not only more energy efficient, but also more resistant to the impact of explosions.
Despite incessant aerial attacks in Kharkiv, Tetiana and her husband decided to remain at home with their three cats.
“I could not believe it when one day I came back home and there was a white car parked in the yard. UNHCR’s staff came to do the measurements and just before the New Year they replaced the damaged windows with the new ones. It felt like a New Year miracle to us and a sign that there is still kindness in this world,” she says.
Tetiana does not have a permanent job and tries to find temporary employment to support her family. Cooking and listening to rock music helps her cope with the stress. But the best remedy are her cats that never leave her side.
“They were my little heaters during the cold nights, always by my side. And now when I sometimes cry, the youngest one, Dasha, comes close and pokes her nose into my face like saying ‘everything will be fine’.”
With support from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, UNHCR has helped 800 families in Dnipropetrovsk and Kharkiv regions in Ukraine to repair their war-damaged homes. In addition, with this support UNHCR has provided emergency shelter materials immediately after attacks to 6,450 families, and Rapid Thermal Kits to help 1,000 families better insulate their homes.
