"We passed through 19 checkpoints": the story of the Klymenko family from Mariupol becomes part of the Museum of Civilian Voices founded by the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation

"It was very frightening to fall asleep at night," recalls 11-year-old Sofiika Klymenko about her life in Mariupol while the city was surrounded by russian forces. At that time, the girl began keeping a diary. She wrote down when the electricity and heating stopped, counted the days between her father's rare visits and waited for him to return. Her father, Yurii, was an artilleryman defending the city during those days. The story of the Klymenko family has become part of the Museum of Civilian Voices founded by the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation.

In March 2022, Sofiia and her mother, Viktoriia, struggled to survive in Mariupol without electricity, gas or water. They cooked food over an open fire in the courtyard together with their neighbours during the rare moments of silence. Viktoriia recalls that every time she prepared a meal, she prayed she would manage to return to her daughter before the next shelling began.

"You go outside to cook something for your child, then you turn around and no longer recognise where you are. It is supposed to be your home, your courtyard, but in just a few days everything has been destroyed. The whole city is covered in smoke, and you don't know whether there will be a tomorrow, whether you will finish cooking or whether you will manage to bring the food back to your child," says Viktoriia.

They finally decided to leave on 16 March. By then, they had already lost contact with Yurii. After leaving him a note on the apartment door, Viktoriia and her daughter set off into the unknown. As they were leaving the city, the mother asked her daughter to lie about her father in order to survive.

"I was very afraid because we were the family of a serviceman. I was scared they might ask us something. I knew what to answer, but it was still terrifying," Sofiia explains.

Viktoriia also told Sofiia not to look out of the car window because the entire road was strewn with the bodies of those who had been killed.

"My mission was to save my child. I will never forget that road. We passed through nineteen checkpoints. It was horrifying. I knew Yurii had stayed in Mariupol with his comrades, but I had no idea where he was or what had happened to him," she says.

After months of uncertainty, the family received a photograph of a note Yurii had written at Azovstal, which the servicemen managed to send via Starlink. Later, they learned that during an enemy attack with phosphorus bombs, the defender had suffered severe injuries and burns covering 30% of his body, and was later taken into captivity after receiving the order to surrender. Just one month later, Yurii was brought home in a prisoner exchange.

"We saw on television that there had been an exchange of wounded prisoners, and we saw Dad there, but we didn't recognise him at first. He looked so different. When we finally met him, he really wanted to pick me up, but his injuries were so severe that he couldn't," Sofiika recalls.

Immediately after returning home, Yurii fulfilled the promise he had made at Azovstal and married Viktoriia in a church ceremony. Soon afterwards, their second daughter, Solomiia, was born. The family began their new life in an apartment of their own, which Yurii received through the Home programme implemented by the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation in partnership with Azovstal Heart.

"This is such meaningful support. I understand Rinat Leonidovych — Donbas is his home, and he treats all of us as one family. I thank him for bringing us together and caring for us. I am proud to be from Mariupol, and I am proud of what my husband has done for this country," adds Viktoriia.

Watch the story of the Klymenko family here: https://bit.ly/4eRSwuq

The collection of the Museum of Civilian Voices founded by the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation already numbers more than 145,000 stories about the war. This is the largest collection in the world of testimonies from civilians affected by russia’s war against Ukraine.