'Not going to leave': Family returns to Kharkiv after fleeing when Russia invaded

KHARKIV, Ukraine -- Less than a month after Russia invaded Ukraine, Yana, 33, the lonely mother of Roman, who is now 11, left the front-line city of Kharkiv with their relatives and spent seven months in Lviv, a city in the western part of Ukraine, farther from the fighting.

They were overwhelmed by the hospitality of locals in Lviv, but, despite the ongoing war, they returned home by the end of the same year -- to celebrate New Year's Eve in their native surroundings.

"I am infinitely grateful to Lviv and its people for the fact that we are now alive and unharmed -- I have never received as much help as I received in Lviv," Yana told ABC News. She asked to only be identified by her first name.

When Yana and her son were outside Kharkiv in April 2022, their five-story Soviet-era building was hit by Russian Multiple Launch Rocket System missiles.

Fortunately, the family's apartment survived that attack, but the nearby garage with their belongings, including Roman's bicycle, was burnt to the ground.

"It hurts when you can only witness your native city being burned but Kharkiv residents are not going to leave," Yana said.

Inspired by the Ukrainian army successful counteroffensive in Kharkiv region and the liberation of Kherson, the family decided to restore their apartment in Kharkiv.

"To say that it was a moment of happiness is to say nothing at all -- it is impossible to express these feelings,” said Yana, remembering the first emotions after their homecoming.

The mother and the son are now threatened mostly by Russia’s modernized guided bombs and missile attacks from the enemy's territory, as the distance to border is only about 18 miles.

Yana seems to be morally and materially ready to stay in the city under everyday shelling.

Stockpiles of groceries, candles, power banks and other useful things have become a new normal for the family during both winters they have survived in the native city.

"After the strikes on critical infrastructure Kharkiv was swallowed by darkness and sounds of power generators -- we almost forgot about safety and any comfort,” Yana said.

Due to financial difficulties, she was forced to leave her job in sales of cosmetics. After obtaining proper certificates, she now works as a laser epilation specialist, removing clients’ hair in two cities, Kharkiv and Poltava.

This decision was a matter of a low salary: "During the war, life in Ukraine became considerably expensive, not only in Kharkiv, all over country, but the income was at the same level," she explains.

Many businesses left Kharkiv, others filed for bankruptcy, and the flow of the students from local universities all but disappeared.

"But this spring of 2024 is very different, despite everything, a lot of new hairdressers, tattoo and beauty salons, coffee shops, bookstores have opened in the last couple of months," said Yana, expressing her strong faith in Kharkiv's future.

Despite this positive mood, the family keeps surviving under the instant threat of the Russian missiles that are taking advantage of Ukrainian air defense capabilities shortage.

The recent intensification of Russian strikes on Ukraine's energy infrastructure and urban areas exposed the poor defense of Kharkiv.

Almost all of the Kharkiv region's power facilities have been destroyed or badly damaged, causing large-scale power cuts, since Russia renewed its aerial assault this spring.

Before the war, Kharkiv used to be Ukraine's second biggest city after Kyiv -- it served as a home to 2 million people -- but as the war continued, it dipped to fewer than 300,000 civilians.

Even now the city hasn't restored its peace-time population. The regional authorities are constantly announcing new evacuation orders for civilians still living in some border communities of the Kharkiv region.

Ihor Terekhov, the city’s mayor, warned this month, in an interview with British media, that Kharkiv with its 1.3 million residents was at risk of becoming "a second Aleppo," referencing a Syrian city allegedly destroyed by Syrian government and Russian forces, without Western fresh military aid.

At the same time, Yana and her son are not going to surrender so easily.

"I am not going anywhere, but if the tricolor [Russian flag] flies over our regional administration, I won't be able to live under it -- I understand that this will be the worst thing for the city,” she said.

For now, she and her son are going to stay, work and study in Kharkiv, helping the volunteers and the military.

Although Roman was enchanted by Lviv, its people and its culture, Yana said she is not considering the possibility of returning there, as it was also a painful experience for her son.

He had to make new friends at both schools he attended in Lviv, as many of them were evacuating further abroad with their families, and this upset Roman very much, his mother said.

"More and more often he was asking me, ‘Why should I get to know them, if they will go somewhere anyway, disappear, and I have my friends, they are in Kharkiv,’” Yana said.

The stress affected the boy's weight and the family decided to go on a diet and started running at the stadium near the apartment they were renting in Lviv. But after their return to Kharkiv everything normalized, she said.

The destruction in Kharkiv Yana describes as partial but very painful: "The mutilated houses, erased districts, historical monuments -- it hurts so much that you can't express the exact feeling, it is like some pieces have been cut away from your own body."

But material losses are less important -- it is the people who are the main loss, says Yana and remembers, that a year ago, in May 2023, she couldn't stand to attend the fourth funeral in a row as it was too much for her.

At the same time, she said that this war gave her the understanding of her own identity and strengthened her personal faith in people. Yana and Roman are now preparing for the next winter in Kharkiv by gathering more power banks, candles, food and water.

"If the city plunges into darkness for a very long time, not just for one or two days, and children will not be able to study even remotely, then we will think about something and maybe move to another place where there is electricity, but I don't think it will be 1000 kilometers away," said Yana.

She said she still believes in the potential of Kharkiv as a big city.

"When the war ends, there are even real reconstruction plans, realistic programs and profitable conditions for the return of business, students, and even tourists -- many people would be willing to see the city of reinforced concrete,” she said.