The Vinnytsia I Am Mariupol Hub brings together over three thousand Mariupol residents. Olena Lapshchun’s family is among them. For more than a month, they survived in the basement amid air strikes. They have lost everything.
Several generations of the family, including Olena herself, worked at Azovstal. They had a family tradition of celebrating New Year’s holidays near the Christmas tree installed near the Drama Theater. Olena says that the war took away not only material things but also the warmest memories. But it did not break the spirit of the citizens of Mariupol.
