Nadia’s husband had passed away before the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. She lived in a village near Kyiv with her grown children: a son, Dmytro, and a daughter, Tetiana and her husband. Tetiana was pregnant with their first child when her husband volunteered for the army. He died in the war before their son was born, in 2023.

In the summer of 2024, Dmytro was mobilised and served as a border guard. In November, his unit came under fire and he was killed.

“This family’s story is heart-breaking,” says Tanya Shpygunova who works for Blythswood’s partner organisation, Serve Now. Volunteers visited them with shoeboxes just weeks after their loss of Dmytro. “Two women and a small child are left alone and they are really struggling as there is a lot of physical work to be done around the house,” Tanya says. “They often cry for their two men who were killed in the war.

“I’m so glad that we could support them and share their burden. The gifts from Blythswood were a great way to remind them that someone is there for them, that people around them care, and that they are remembered and appreciated.”

Too young to understand his loss, Nadia’s grandson stares at the camera. Tanya from Serve Now says: “I’m so glad that we could share their burden”