“Dad Left Us Memories in Advance”: The Story of Anastasiia, Polina, and Kseniia

Anastasiia remembers standing in the middle of an unfamiliar city with two suitcases. Her hometown of Chaplynka, her home, her job, her entire familiar life were left behind. Beside her stood her two daughters, and she had no idea what would come next. In June 2022, they were forced to leave their hometown in search of safety.

First, they spent five days in Kryvyi Rih, then three months in Vinnytsia. Later, they returned to Kryvyi Rih so they could see their father at least once a month.

The confusion of those first days still lingers in her voice. Back then, she had to hold herself together while also being a source of strength for her children. The girls’ grandmother, Anastasiia’s mother, stayed behind in Chaplynka, in the temporarily occupied Kherson region. As the family of a Ukrainian defender, they had no choice: staying in an occupied town was far too dangerous.

In their search for something to hold on to, the daughters chose aerial gymnastics. Polina and Kseniia began training, where they met a girl whose mother worked at the Voices of Children Foundation. Anastasiia later reached out to the Foundation’s regional center in Kryvyi Rih to receive psychological support for herself and her children. It was there that the girls made their first friends, and their mother began to find her strength.

The daughters have different personalities. Both are deeply engaged in sports and take part in performances. Thirteen-year-old Polina is athletic and resilient. She handles defeat calmly and dreams of becoming a gymnastics coach. Eleven-year-old Kseniia is sociable and loves learning, but she experiences every setback intensely.

The children gradually began to adapt, finding their place in new surroundings. Life was slowly stabilizing: their father visited them once a month, the girls prepared for competitions.

The war remained close, but the family was building a sense of stability despite everything. Until May 10, 2024, when everything fell apart.

Formally, the man is still considered missing in action, as his body has not been identified. Anastasiia continues to search for him. She encountered scammers, attended public rallies, and held on to every possible lead.

For more than two years, the family has lived with the hope that their father is alive. They believe this with all their hearts. The older daughter, strong-willed by nature, stays composed. The younger often speaks of her dad. When they walk past a bridge, she says, “Dad taught us how to skip stones.” She goes to rallies and tells her mother, “Don’t you dare cry. The police are searching. We’ll find Dad.”

Anastasiia is a seamstress by profession. The Foundation helped her obtain sewing equipment after she relocated. But after everything she had endured, it felt as though she had forgotten how to hold a needle. She had never sewn stage costumes before, yet she taught herself. She bought fabric, sat down at the machine, and made one costume, then another. The work brought back her motivation. Soon, other parents began ordering stage costumes, too.

In the summer of 2025, the children went to camp, and for the first time, Anastasiia allowed herself to be alone in the mountains, in silence. A trip to the Carpathians became an emotional retreat.

Now, Anastasiia works from home, sewing between power outages. The children keep her from sinking into despair as they are constantly on the move. The pain remains, but they are learning to live with it and to keep going. They believe that one day all four of them will return home.

Author: Yuliia Didenko

The Voices of Children Charitable Foundation is implementing the project “Improving Child Protection and MHPSS (Mental Health and Psychosocial Support) Mechanisms for Children, Adolescents, and Families Affected by the Conflict in Ukraine” in partnership with the international NGO Plan International and Charitable Foundation "Pomogaem", funded by the German Federal Foreign Office (GFFO / Auswärtiges Amt).