‘I Want to Live for My Child’: The Story of Olha Shykula, Who Lost Her Husband and Three Children, Has Been Added to the Museum of Civilian Voices of the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation
14.08.2026
Olha Shykula and her unborn daughter, Kateryna, were the only survivors of a Russian drone strike on their home. Her husband, 34-year-old defender Hryhorii Shykula, and their three young children — two-year-old twin sons Vladyk and Vania, and one-year-old daughter Mira — were killed at the scene. Olha shared her tragic story of loss with the Museum of Civilian Voices of the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation.
This tragic event occurred on February 10, 2026, in the city of Bohodukhiv, Kharkiv region. The day before, Hryhorii had been playing with the children, and they all fell asleep together in the same bedroom. Not wanting to wake her family, Olha, who was pregnant at the time, went to sleep in another room.
A russian drone struck their home in the middle of the night. Olha woke up from a powerful blast: the shockwave hurled her toward the ceiling, and a neighbour helped her escape from the wreckage. Moments later, another explosion followed, and the ceiling collapsed onto the sofa where her husband and their three young children had been sleeping. From beneath the rubble, Olha could hear her son Vania’s voice. Her husband had been killed instantly.
“It is terrifying to lose your loved ones, especially in such a way. This is not death — it is brutality. The fact that my children and my husband burned to death is something I do not want to forgive anyone for,” Olha says.
The pregnant woman immediately felt unwell. The shock caused her to lose her voice, and she was deeply worried about her unborn child. It was only later, in hospital, that she realised she had lost her entire family and her home. The only reason she found to keep going was her daughter Katrusia, whom she later gave birth to after the tragedy. Her brother Vladyk had already chosen a name for his little sister. While he was still alive, he would often stroke his mother’s belly and gently repeat: “Katia.”
After the tragedy, Olha was left alone and later gave birth to her daughter. She was subsequently provided with a home. The woman says that deciding to have a fourth child with her husband during wartime was not easy, but she is deeply grateful to have Katia, who has become her main reason to keep living and moving forward.
“I want to move forward. I want to live for my child. The future means making sure she has a good education and a decent life. Here, I can share stories about my children and what they were like, and about my husband and the man he was. He was a hero to me. And he must become a hero to Katrusia as well. That is why I have to stay strong and keep living,” the woman says.
Watch Olha Shykula’s story here: https://bit.ly/3StbksI
The collection of the Museum of Civilian Voices of the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation already contains more than 145,000 stories about the war. It is the world’s largest collection of testimonies from civilians affected by russia’s war against Ukraine.
