But her husband could not get there in time. “[He] he was coming, but he could not do it. It took another five seconds, “Sairova told CBC News from a hospital room in the northwestern Ukrainian city of Lviv. He spoke slowly, with the pain of that moment still fresh. Half-buried under the rubble, Sairova shouted for help, “but it took two hours for someone to hear me. It took six hours for people from neighboring houses to dig me up.” This was because her leg was trapped under a concrete slab. Neighbors ended up tying a rope around her and using a car to pull the concrete off her. Sairova’s leg is now in a splint, broken in three places and awaiting surgery. Her doctor tells her to walk again, but her heart is broken. “In a second, I lost everything: my parents, my husband. And after two days, I learned that my sister and her husband also died in their backyard,” she said in tears. CLOCKS Olga Sairova and Lesia Bondarenko share their stories of pain and survival:

Heartbreaking stories of war loss and survival in Ukraine

Two refugees share their personal stories of fleeing the Ukraine war – Olga Shairova lost her husband and parents in a Russian rocket attack, and Lesya Bodarenko survived the bombing as she escaped with her nine-month-old baby. 3:56
Sairova was forced to leave her loved ones under the rubble, she said, because there was no way to exhume their bodies. He stayed in Mariupol for another five days, but then the bombing intensified again and the houses in the neighborhood burned down. “One of the neighbors’s car was still intact, [so] we went in and left. ” It has been more than a month since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and while Russia has met with unexpectedly fierce resistance, its military campaign continues. After Russia announced the withdrawal of troops on Tuesday from areas around the capital, Kyiv and Chernihiv, Ukrainian officials said Russian forces had doubled their bombardment there on Wednesday, according to the Associated Press. The relentless bombing has punished Ukrainian civilians. While there is often an emphasis on conflict in the dead, the injured end up carrying not only the weight of their injuries but also the memories of what they saw – and the loved ones they lost.

A close escape

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) reported this week that a month of fighting in Ukraine has resulted in 1,179 dead and 1,860 wounded civilians, although countless more are missing. UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grady says 10 million people have been displaced inside or outside the country, some with serious injuries. A man retrieves items from a burning shop after a Russian attack in Kharkov, Ukraine, on March 25. (Felipe Dana / The Associated Press)
Many have come to Lviv. The city has not been hit by civilian property since the bombings – airstrikes have been rare and have targeted fuel depots and military-linked industrial buildings. Like Sairova, Lesia Bondarenko is recovering in Lviv. She lost a finger and her left hand and wrist are tied tightly as a result of a close escape from Hostomel, a city near the capital, Kyiv, at the beginning of the invasion. When the bombing started early in the war, Bodarenko took her nine-month-old daughter, Kira, and jumped into a vehicle with others fleeing in terror. Near a checkpoint, their car was bombed, killing the driver and her friend. Bodarenko took her baby in one hand and helped her friend’s three-year-old child get out of the car. Bodarenko rushed across the street, panicking and bleeding profusely. Her left arm had been pierced by shrapnel, with the wound almost cutting her wrist. “I was very scared – you can not even imagine. I was shaking, I was scared for my children,” he told CBC while at the home of a stranger in Lviv who has taken the family. “You think ‘My God, is this the end?’ Lesia Bondarenko, right, appears with her husband, Artem Kariev, and their daughter, Kira. (Susan Ormiston / CBC)
Another driver ended up picking up Bodarenko and the children and taking them back to a house in Hostomel where they had taken refuge in the basement. A nurse who happened to be at home tied Bodarenko’s wrist, but told her that she had lost too much blood and that she could die without medical help. “I lost consciousness and prayed: ‘Artem… at least save our daughter,’” she said, referring to her husband, who had been trapped elsewhere in Hostomel by bombings and ambulances were slow to arrive. In a Facebook post, Artem Kariev alerted the emergency services to reach his wife and child and finally managed to reach her. “When I found her, her face was very white. I wanted to hug her, but I knew that if I hugged her she would start screaming in pain,” Kariev said.

“They are not left with anything”

Dr Yuri Vovchko, a surgeon in Lviv, says the war wounds from shrapnel and landmines are horrific. “These wounds have huge damage – torn and crushed soft tissue,” he said. “These wounds are also infected, so it takes a lot longer to heal.” But he recognizes that psychological wounds are even more difficult to treat. “People are starting to gather, they are becoming calmer and more organized,” Vovtsko said, “but their mood is still very depressing, because they have nothing. Their houses are destroyed and they usually have no relatives and nothing else.” Dr Yuri Vovchko, a surgeon in Lviv, says the physical wounds of war are horrible, but that the psychological wounds are even more difficult to treat. (Susan Ormiston / CBC)
Sairova’s experience has made her angry. “What can you think of the destruction of all those who were holy and beloved?” In addition to losing a finger, Bodarenko will need multiple surgeries to repair the bones and tendons in her arm. She has strong faith and believes that God saved her. Despite brushing themselves to death, Kariev says, Ukrainians can prevail in the war with Russia. “We will definitely win,” Kariyev said. “Because [Russian President Vladimir] Putin is a terrorist. He does not fight with soldiers. fights with women and children “. Bondarenko and Kariev showed CBC a pink children’s blanket that still has small pieces of shrapnel stuck to the fleece. He was wrapped around Kira when the car was hit. The child has pieces of shrapnel embedded in her foot, perhaps forever – a gloomy amulet for a war baby.