A Ukrainian family has described its experience of living for more than three years under Russian occupation in the city of Oleshky, in the Kherson region. Serhii Samarsky, his wife Olha and their son Vladyslav remained trapped in the occupied city from 2022, facing constant fear, food shortages and extreme living conditions.
In an account published by The Kyiv Independent, the family said Russian soldiers entered the apartment building where they lived and used it as a site from which to launch drones. In one of the most traumatic incidents, Serhii and Olha were detained by Russian forces and held in a basement for three days, where they were interrogated.
According to Olha, even going out to buy food had become a daily risk. She said Russian soldiers, particularly when drunk, could become aggressive over something as simple as hearing someone speak Ukrainian or seeing them wear blue and yellow clothing, the colours of Ukraine’s national flag.
Living conditions became even worse during the winter. The family was left without electricity or heating and had to sleep wearing three jackets each to keep warm.
Food supplies to the city had been almost completely cut off. To survive, the family relied on courgettes they grew themselves, grains and canned food. On some occasions, they also hid messages written in Ukrainian inside food packages delivered by Ukrainian military drones.
On October 31, the family finally managed to leave Oleshky through a humanitarian evacuation operation to territory controlled by Ukraine.
They were forced to leave behind almost everything they had built throughout their lives. Each family member was allowed to take only one bag, while they also brought along their two cats. Their son, Vladyslav, managed to save photographs of the family albums on his phone.
After arriving in Kyiv, Olha described the feeling of returning to a free city as almost unbelievable.
“We are free. We were walking around Kyiv, thinking: there are cars, there are people, and the lights are on in the houses. It is unbelievable,” she recalled.
At the home they left behind in Oleshky, the family had hidden a three-metre-long Ukrainian flag. It remains in the occupied city, and the family hopes that one day they will be able to return and find their home again.
