0 1 min 55 yrs

Viktoriya Hrubas is a Public Information Officer with the UN humanitarian coordination office, OCHA, and she’s been giving her firsthand account of what it has been like to serve, and suffer, alongside her fellow Ukrainians.

A damaged building in Borodianka, Kyivska Oblast.

© UNOCHA/Matteo Minasi

“Nobody is prepared to go through war”, she admits, despite her wide experience as a humanitarian providing emergency aid to those in need.

In the early days of the invasion, she watched “with horror” as the Russian army advanced towards her childhood home of Zaporizhzhia, especially as her mother had decided not to leave.

In September, she finally got to return to the city on assignment with OCHA, and spoke to defiant local residents, including her mother, determined not to let the war destroy their lives completely.

You can read her full, powerful story here.