Halyna Shmurakova is an IDP from the village of Romanivka, Marinka district, Donetsk region. The fighting in and around Maryinka has been going on since 2014, and in 2022, the fighting intensified. First, Galina’s daughter and her son, who were brought here by volunteers, settled in the shelter, and then she came. At first, Galina did not want to move, but when the security situation became very bad, she decided to leave. The village where she lived is on the frontline, and she does not know what happened to her house, whether it survived.

When you ask Halyna how she lives in the shelter, she says that she is used to it, but it is difficult because there are eight people living in the room, all different, and each with their own character. She says that now the IDPs have everything, the living conditions are much better, but when they arrived, there was almost nothing – just pallets with mattresses on them to sleep on. Of course, everyone wants everyone to have their own room, but it is still difficult to do so – there are not so many places in the shelter and so many people.