Teen shares trauma after losing mother to missile attack
Thirteen-year-old Katia and her family found themselves caught up in the tragedy at Kramatorsk railway station in April
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On April 8, with the war in Ukraine escalating, 13-year-old Katia and her family made a decision that would alter their lives forever – to catch an evacuation train out of Donbas. The journey promised to lead them to safety. Instead, they found only horror.
Katia still remembers the moment they arrived at Kramatorsk railway station.
“Everything was alright, but I had a feeling that something bad may happen,” she recalls.
She and her mother went to buy tea, while her sister and aunt watched their bags.
"While we were standing in a queue, I was away in my thoughts for some moments. And then I heard people screaming, ‘Lay down!’. I didn't realise what was happening, I was pushed”
Within seconds, it became clear that a missile had hit the station. A tent that had been used to prepare the tea collapsed above Katia’s head.
"It was really heavy,” the youngster says. “I looked at my leg and saw that my jeans were soaked with blood. I looked at my mom. I thought she had passed out and I pushed her. But there was no reaction.”
When Katia started calling for help, a man helped her to sit on a bench. She asked what had happened to her mother but was told that they saved children first, then adults. It was not until later that she found out about her mother’s death on Facebook.
"When I was in hospital, I was searching my Facebook feed and saw a post about myself. It said people were collecting money for my treatment. And that my mother died”
Katia's relatives didn't tell her anything, worrying about how she'd react.
Katia does not remember feeling any pain after the attack on the station, although her legs were riddled with shrapnel.
"I only started to feel pain when I got to the hospital,” she says. “From the hospital in Kramatorsk, I was transported to Dnipro. My aunt and sister were living nearby in a church and came to me pretty often. I stayed there for about a month. I couldn't walk because of fragments in my legs. Furthermore, I had two operations and different procedures. The bandaging was done under anesthesia because it is very painful."
Later, Katia was transferred to a hospital in Lviv, where her aunt and sister regularly visit. She is still under treatment.
"I'm working with a psychologist and doctors are helping me to recover and undergo everything that happened,” says Katia. “Emotionally, I'm still very hurt.”
Her sister keeps silent about what happened, and changes the topic every time it regards the tragedy.
Katia still remembers her mother asking her to take a photograph in front of Kramatorsk railway station. This photo captured her alive for the last time.
"The war is terrifying for me. I was scared to sit in a basement for hours. When the air raid siren sounds, I'm afraid that we may be hit. I'd like to say a message to the whole world that war is not fake”
The teenager misses her friends a lot, as well as her home and backyard, where she used to cycle and skate. She often calls her grandparents, who live in the Vinnytska and Donetska regions, and longs to make raspberry pancakes with them again. Now the girl phones them every day.
She also enjoys drawing, painting and dreams of becoming a model.
"I did a photo shoot in Lviv,” she says. “I like clothes, so I could be a designer or stylist. I also love TikTok,” the girl adds.
Currently, Katia lives together with her sister and aunt in the house they all lived in before.
According to UNICEF, at least 972 children in Ukraine have been killed or injured by violence since the war escalated nearly six months ago.
UNICEF continues to help Ukrainian children affected by the war. Since February 24, the organisation has provided psychological and social support to more than 1.4 million children and their caregivers. Around 422,000 people have received financial aid.