On March 28, Bucha, Kyiv region, hosted a presentation of the collection Stories of the Strong, a book written by Ukrainians about Ukrainians who survived the horrors of occupation, captivity, torture, bombing, and rocket attacks. The book was created with the support of Vadym Stolar, the founder of the charitable foundation. It includes 63 stories, reports UNN.
The book is planned to be presented in Europe so that they do not forget what is happening in Ukraine.
The event began with a theater performance during which actors told several stories from the book. In particular, the story of a young woman, Hanna Klima, from Mariupol, who worked at Azovstal and lived near the plant. Together with her 5-year-old son, they went through terrible shelling, fires, and filtration camps.
The presentation was attended by the authors of the book, who shared the painful events they experienced during the Russian occupation.
THE STORY OF YULIA GRYTSAK FROM IRPIN, KYIV REGION
Yulia Hrytsak, her children and elderly parents had to flee their home in Irpin in a hurry to avoid being captured by the occupation. The house where Yulia's family lived was left in ashes after an enemy rocket attack.
"Mom, I don't want to be the seventeenth child killed," her son told Yulia after reading the news feed.
Yulia told about how her family tried to leave Irpin twice.
"Shock, stupor, wild animal fear. In the first days, we did not think to evacuate because we did not think that such horror could be in the center of Europe. There was no rational thinking then. But when a bomb was dropped near our house, my children and parents and I decided to evacuate. We did not succeed on the first attempt because the cars were shot at close range. We evacuated on the second attempt. I frankly thought it was the end. I think I'm not the only one in this room who felt despair at some point. I thought I would never come back to Irpin, but we did," Hrytsak said.
THE STORY OF LARYSA HOLRMAN FROM MARIUPOL
Before the full-scale war, Larysa worked as a leading economist at the famous Ilyich Iron and Steel Works. After losing their home, her family left occupied Mariupol for Kyiv.
"Our family left on March 16, just when the fighting was still fierce. We were without electricity, without water," Larysa said.
Larysa has two children.
"One was not yet two years old, and the other was eight. The planes were flying all the time, and the children were very scared. Later they got so used to it that they knew when to run away. It was very hard to leave..." - Larysa says.
Natalia Prykhodko, a volunteer with the Vadym Stolar Foundation, told reporters that the book took almost two years to complete, and the concept was born in April 2022.
"We realized that stories were being shared with us, and they needed to be preserved. One of our volunteers, Valeria, said: "It is important to record this. Let's collect these stories and make them into a book." That's when we came up with the idea to call the book Stories of the Strong. We worked on a lot of stories, but the book includes 63, because they are the most painful, they are the ones that everyone abroad should read and understand what is happening in Ukraine," said Prykhodko.
According to her, the book was printed in a small edition, not for sale.
Valeriia Lebedieva, a volunteer with the Vadym Stolar Foundation, noted that the purpose of this book is to show Ukraine at war.
"The purpose of this book is to show Ukraine, Ukraine at war. The one we see with you every day. These stories, unfortunately, will not be included in textbooks, but each of us should hear them, and that is why we started working on the book. We have talked a lot, heard and even seen the terrible, horrible stories of ordinary people, strong Ukrainians, an unbreakable nation," Lebedieva said.
She noted that the foundation's volunteers are sincerely grateful to the founder and patron of the charity Vadym Stolar.
"I would like to thank the Foundation's volunteers who have been helping people since the first days of the large-scale Russian invasion.
I am grateful to the team for the idea and painstaking preparation of this important publication. I am grateful to the book's characters and authors for their trust, openness, sincerity and strength of spirit. I am confident that Stories of the Strong will attract attention and arouse interest both in Ukraine and abroad," said Vadym Stolar.