Lyudmila's story - Odesa  

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Lyudmila, is 87, almost 88 years old. She was born in Odesa and spent her whole life in Odesa.
She graduated from the University of marketing and used to work in City Trade council.
“I worked until I was 75-year-old, with high heels”, she joked. She is now a pensioner.
A widow, she lost her son when she was 47-year-old. She no longer has close relatives in Odesa.
She used to live on her own, in a flat, on the second floor of a 2-story building. With the support of a cane, she managed everything by herself: “I kept a young spirit, I would danse now if I could”, she joked.
When the full-scale invasion started, she never considered leaving. On 24th January 2024, her building was hit in an attack. It was not the first attack in her neighborhood. Over the period of a week, her area was targeted twice. “It was very scary. I used to hear explosions before, I used to hear rockets being shot down, I used to hear when a rocket hit somewhere, but this time it was such a huge explosion, I was thrown on the bed”, Lyudmila recalled.
Part of the building is left without a roof. The neighbors’s flat was destroyed, while Ludmila’s flat was partially damaged (balcony and doors).
“I had no childhood because of occupation and war. I was 5 years old in 1941 when the war started, then the occupation, it was hard not to eat, my mom was alone. And in my old age, war again. What is this disgrace?”, she said.
“My dream is to be alive when the war will end”, Lyudmila hopes.