Iryna Khanikova is a mother of many children from Kherson. She has five children and a granddaughter. Iryna’s youngest son, Artem, is a “special” child [or “sunny child”, i.e. a child with Down syndrome]. The desire to create comfortable conditions for living and development of such children as Artem inspired Iryna to establish and lead the civil society organization “Sunny Children of Kherson Region”. Fifty families with “sunny children” have become one big family. Cool projects, amazing successes of children with Down syndrome, grandiose plans for the future – the war nearly destroyed all this in an instant. In the occupied Kherson, Iryna Khanikova tried her best to protect the children from the traumas of war, keep up the life of the organization and, despite the danger, attended [pro-Ukrainian] rallies with her eldest daughter… However, every next day, life at the point of machine guns became more and more unbearable. Iryna resolved to take the children out. During the evacuation, the Khanikov family came under fire...
We decided to leave because the life and health of the children prevailed. We came under fire, Grad MLRS rockets flew above our heads. The kids were crying and screaming... Our “sunny child” Artem sang the anthem of Ukraine all the way...
When quoting a story, a reference to the source – the Museum of Civilian Voices of the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation – is required in the following format:
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