21.11.2025

Support That Restores Balance: The Story of Liza and Dasha, Sisters from Oleshky

Liza and Dasha live in a dormitory in Kyiv. In the room they share with their mother, there is one table for all of them, beds lined up side by side, and neatly folded clothes on the wardrobe shelves. It’s a small, 35-square-meter space. A shared kitchen and shower are down the hall. However, none of it resembles the home where the girls were born and raised. The home where their father built a bunk bed for the sisters with his own hands. The home with a huge library that their mother had collected over the years. The home where you could walk through the house in complete darkness because you knew every corner by heart.

Leaving their home after two years of living under Russian occupation and finally moving to Kyiv became one of the most painful losses for the sisters. Psychologists from the Voices of Children Charitable Foundation helped the family adapt to a new daily life and come to terms with the big city.

Photo: Dasha, Liza, and their mother (personal archive).

A Place Filled with Memories

The girls’ home is in the city of Oleshky, currently under Russian occupation. It was built by their grandparents, brick by brick, back in the 1960s. The girls’ mother, Zhanna, helped with the construction as well.

Every stone there was laid by our grandmother, grandfather, and mom. That house is our family history. So much is connected to it! There’s no fancy renovation or expensive furniture, but there is warmth in every corner. It feels like there’s an aura of unity. Physically, we are here, but spiritually, we are there. We had one TV, a couch in front of it, and our family gathered to watch movies together,

recalls 18-year-old Liza.

Support That Restores Balance: The Story of Liza and Dasha, Sisters from Oleshky — Image 1

Support That Restores Balance: The Story of Liza and Dasha, Sisters from Oleshky — Image 2

I remember our piano, where my sister and I practiced for 10 years while studying at music school. How we cried when we couldn’t get it right, and how happy we were when we finally did. Everything there is filled with our memories,

adds 15-year-old Dasha.

In their yard back home, there’s a large walnut tree, visible from the living room window. There are the tastiest Kherson tomatoes raised in their own garden, just a few meters from the house. And there, in Oleshky, is also the school the girls never left, even after evacuating. Liza graduated from it online in 2024. Dasha continues studying there online and is now in the 9th grade. Their mother still works at the Oleshky school, teaching online.

The school has been hit dozens of times, but it’s still standing. Under the Russian occupation, we studied online at home. It was challenging, as there were frequent power outages and an unstable internet connection, but we kept studying despite everything. Mom helped us and was always there,

Dasha shares.

Two Years on the Front Line

The occupation of Oleshky began quickly. On February 24, 2022, Russian soldiers entered the city from the temporarily annexed Crimea and set up an occupation administration. In the first days, the sisters did not go outside, but the whole family believed the occupation would be short-lived, that the city would soon be liberated by Ukraine, and that life would return to normal.

Their mother promised her daughters that everything would be fine. Even now, she believes that given the circumstances, the most important thing is that the family endured two full years of living in danger. From the very first day, she was convinced her family would survive the occupation.

We got used to it. There was no fear, because when you’re on the front line, as Mom says, you just do what you have to do. Our parents were our only support, and on a fragile emotional thread, we supported each other. When Mom looked calm and confident, we automatically felt the same,

Dasha recalls.

The occupation happened during my teenage years, when you think, ‘I’m the smartest, and no one understands me.’ Dasha felt the same way. But the full-scale war forced us to find common ground with our parents, because they were the only people who cared about us and loved us,

Liza adds.

When Russians destroyed the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant in June 2023, the family stayed home for the first few days as the water didn’t reach their house. But the risk of flooding remained high, so the mother and daughters decided to move to a friend’s apartment at the highest point in Oleshky. In a hurry, they grabbed documents, some clothes, and... a hairdryer.

I took the hairdryer because I was trying to save absolutely everything from that house. It might seem like a silly thing, but for me it symbolizes that everything in that home matters. I grabbed whatever I could, wanting to save as much as possible, but I simply wouldn’t have had the strength to carry the whole house. Those days felt like the worst horror movie. You can’t film that or fully describe it. The fear and adrenaline were at the highest point in my life. The feeling when you see danger with your own eyes and can do nothing. The river was my element: I was into canoeing and loved swimming—the silence, the sound of water, birds singing. It was my place of calm. And realizing that this place could literally kill me was deeply unsettling,

Liza recalls.

That day, Mom returned to the house, hugged the walls, placed a small stone under it, and said, ‘Hold on, my dear.’ We stayed in another apartment for three days. When we returned, we saw that the water had stopped exactly where Mom had placed the stone. It felt like a miracle. Another confirmation of the strength of our home, which protected everything around it, from its walls to the abandoned animals nearby,

Dasha still wonders.

At that time, the family already had nine dogs, eight cats, and sixty chickens. They took in all the animals people abandoned while fleeing the war. People realized that they must save either themselves or the animals; for most, the choice was obvious.

We took it upon ourselves to care for the animals, because they couldn’t feed themselves or find shelter. War is war, but they still needed food to survive,

the girls explain why they kept caring for the animals despite risking their lives.

Every morning, at midday, and in the evening, their mother cooked porridge for the animals, while Liza and Dasha took a large bucket and walked down the street to abandoned houses to feed those who guarded these homes as if they were their own. They walked through the streets as shelling continued overhead, hid against walls to avoid shrapnel, but they kept feeding the animals.

Kyiv: In Search of Themselves

Life in Oleshky was becoming increasingly dangerous: there were no emergency services, no doctors. When a neighbor was killed nearby in January 2024, the family made a difficult but already unavoidable decision—to leave. Their father stayed in the city to help elderly people and take care of the animals.

The hardest part was getting into the taxi and realizing that for a very long time you wouldn’t see your familiar streets and your home again. The hardest part was taking that first step and waving to our dad through the window as he stayed there alone,

the sisters say, recalling one of the most painful moments of their lives.

In Kyiv, they had friends and relatives, so there were people who supported them. Still, adapting to the new reality was difficult. The family struggled financially. Also, it was hard to get used to living in a dormitory: back home, each of them had their own room, while here life felt constantly exposed, as if everyone could see everything.

In Oleshky, everything was simple. There were only three bus routes, so it was easy to navigate, and you could walk across the whole city in an hour. Kyiv is big and complex. There’s so much going on that you feel like you lose yourself in it. You lose the version of yourself you were at home,

Liza and Dasha admit.

Psychological Support and the Future

All of this affected the psychological well-being of the girls and their mother: tears, uncontrollable emotions, and sometimes even emotional breakdowns. Psychologists from the Voices of Children Foundation helped the girls cope with these challenges. A year after moving, Dasha began attending individual and group sessions at the Kyiv center, where she learned to talk about her feelings and not be afraid of sadness.

The psychologist helped me deal with my problems, my thoughts, and my emotional state. I really enjoyed working with her. Our conversations calmed me down. It was as if she untangled the knot of thoughts in my head. After talking to her, I was able to return to my own rhythm,

Dasha shared after her sessions.

After visiting the Voices of Children psychologists, she finally learned to trust us and talk to us. She listens to us now and takes our opinions into account. Communication has become easier. Dasha no longer sees us as people who wish her harm, but as those who want to protect her from being hurt or used,

adds her sister Liza.

Liza is now a student and has chosen to study practical psychology. She is convinced that when the war ends, it will be necessary not only to rebuild cities, but also to restore people’s psychological well-being. So, she wants to devote part of her life to helping others.

Dasha continues to study online at the Oleshky school. The sisters have adapted to life in the big city, no matter how hard it has been. Still, more than anything, they dream of returning home: to the place with the walnut tree, the tastiest tomatoes, and the large dining table in the kitchen. It was around that table that the whole family—mother, father, and daughters—gathered during the occupation to play board games. These are the memories they will carry with them for the rest of their lives.

If you or your child needs support, please contact our centers across Ukraine or our psychological support helpline at 0800 210 106. You can support the Foundation’s work by making a donation or sharing our updates.

The Kyiv center’s activities are carried out with the support of the German humanitarian organization Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe within the project K-UKR-2025-4015.