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Transcript/Script((PLAYBOOK SLUG: Lviv Women & Children Shelter
HEADLINE: Special Shelter for Women and Children is Working in Lviv
Teaser: CEO’s office serves as shelter for Ukrainian refugees fleeing the war.
PUBLISHED: 04/14/2022 at 8:46 am
BYLINE: Anna Kosstutschenko
DATELINE: Lviv, Ukraine
VIDEOGRAPHER: Yuiry Dankevych
PRODUCER: Mary Cieslak
VIDEO SOURCE (S): VOA, Reuters, Other (see courtesy)
PLATFORMS: TV only
SCRIPT EDITORS: MPage, sv
TRT: 3:56
VID APPROVED BY: BR
TYPE: TVPKG
EDITOR NOTES: ))
((INTRO))
[[After Russia invaded Ukraine, a Ukrainian NGO organized a shelter for women refugees in the western city of Lviv where a local businessman donated his office for a shelter. Women with children stay there for a few days before continuing their journey to Spain. Anna Kosstutschenko has the story.]]
((NATS)) ((Tatiana))
“The shelling was massive, bombs or whatever it was – they were dropped straight from planes. // I started shouting, ‘Julia! Julia!’ And then, I heard her say, ‘I’m alive.’”
((NARRATION))
During Russian shelling of Mariupol in early March, a bomb hit the apartment of Tatiana, a Russian-speaking city resident.
((Tatiana, Refugee from Mariupol)) ((IN RUSSIAN))
“I heard someone shout in the basement – a bomb has hit an apartment on the 8th floor; It turned out to be ours. // We didn’t even go up to see it, we just spent the next six days in the basement. // The only thing we have left to remind us of home is the keys to the apartment.”
((NARRATION))
Since early March, attacks by the Russian military have intensified....
...and Tatiana quickly realized that although she had lost her apartment, she could still save herself and her family.
((Tatiana, Refugee from Mariupol)) ((IN RUSSIAN))
“We knew we had to get out. I had a broken leg, but still I was running first. Because I knew I couldn’t afford to stay behind.”
((NARRATION))
Tatiana says Russian soldiers did not allow people to leave Mariupol to go to other cities in Ukraine through the humanitarian corridors, but instead forced Mariupol residents leaving the city to travel to Russian-occupied territories.
((Tatiana, Refugee from Mariupol)) ((IN RUSSIAN))
“We knew they were taking people to Volodarsk, it’s either the so-called Donetsk Republic or already Russia, I’m not sure. But why? We wanted to stay in Ukraine!”
((NARRATION))
Tatiana did not want to go to Russia even for free. Instead, she spent all her money to rent a car and go to Berdyansk. There, volunteers helped the family get to Lviv where Ukrainian women’s rights activist Lyubov Maksymovych organized a shelter near the train station.
((05:39-))
((Lyubov Maksymovych, Co-Founder, Center for Women's Perspective))
“Our shelter opened on the second day of war.”
((NARRATION))
Maksymovych has been fighting for women's rights for almost 25 years. During this time, she has started many initiatives to help women on their career paths. But since the start of the invasion, Maksymovych has been supporting women in a different way.
((Lyubov Maksymovych, Center for Women's Perspective Co-Founder)) ((IN UKRAINIAN))
“I have a project called Economic Security for Women. I contacted women who we were working with on this project and who were preparing to start a business, and I told them about my idea to start a shelter.
((NARRATION))
One Lviv entrepreneur agreed to give up his office for the needs of the shelter for displaced women with children.
((Lyubov Maksymovych, Co-Founder, Center for Women's Perspective)) ((IN UKRAINIAN))
“I called him and said, ‘Oleg, because of the war, I need a space where I can accommodate women. And he said, ‘I have an office, come and see.”
((NARRATION))
Since the start of Russia’s invasion, over 250 women with children have found refuge in this pop-up shelter, where they are given free hot meals and psychological assistance, if they need it.
Ukrainian refugees are still at risk from being victimized by human trafficking, says Lyubov Maksymovych.
((Lyubov Maksymovych, Co-Founder, Center for Women's Perspective)) ((IN UKRAINIAN))
“An ongoing war creates a huge risk – people do not know where they are going, some do not have enough documents with them.”
((NARRATION))
((Mandatory cg: Center for Women’s Perspective))
To protect women from human traffickers at the border, volunteers are organizing centralized routes to Spain, where local women are waiting for Ukrainian women.
((Lyubov Maksymovych, Co-Founder, Center for Women's Perspective)) ((IN UKRAINIAN))
“They have an agreement between the Ukrainian Women's Consortium and the Huelva community to create a shelter for women with children. There, women are offered temporary accommodation or even refugee status. But most of them, around 90%, apply for temporary residence only, because they want to return home.”
((NARRATION))
On average, women spend about 2-3 days in the shelter, then most of them continue their journey abroad. But Tatiana is in no hurry to leave Ukraine.
((Anna Kosstutschenko, for VOA News, Lviv, Ukraine))
NewsML Media TopicsArts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
NetworkVOA
Location (dateline)Lviv, Ukraine
BylineAnna Kosstutschenko
Brand / Language ServiceVoice of America - English
