Beyond numbers: A Ukrainian mother's heartbreak

By Alina Basiuk, edited by Sofiia Borysenko, OCHA 
 

On 15 July, when a missile hit an apartment block in Odesa City, Halyna and her 20-year-old son, Oleksandr, together with their team supervisor, were repairing its roof. 

They were working for the Restore Your Home programme, supported by the governmental Energy Efficiency Fund. 

The apartment and nearby homes were burning when my colleagues and I arrived to support local authorities and humanitarian partners. Rescuers were searching for people who might still be under the rubble. The emergency team of the Ukrainian Red Cross Society was already on site, providing first aid to the wounded and helping transport them to hospitals.

Together with a psychologist from the Swedish NGO, Operation Aid, we supported Halyna, who was injured and in shock.

Halyna and her two children, Oleksandr and 15-year-old daughter Olena, had recently moved to Odesa from the front-line Dnipro region for a temporary job opportunity and greater safety.

The Restore Your Home programme helps residents repair homes damaged by attacks. They had started work early that sunny morning. Less than an hour later, the missile struck the roof. An injured Halyna managed to pull herself from beneath the rubble and was taken to the hospital for treatment. 

She returned to the site as soon as possible, desperately searching for her son. She kept repeating the last word she had heard him say in the first moments after the strike: "Mom...".

During the agonizing wait that lasted hours for news about the fate of her son, she was accompanied by a psychologist from NGO Operation Aid, while the first responders continued to search through the debris. All hoped for Oleksandr to be alive.

The sad news arrived in the afternoon: Oleksandr and another colleague had been killed in the attack. Halyna’s life was shattered by the unimaginable grief of losing a son.

This family had come to Odesa hoping to earn a living. Instead, the war took away a son and a brother.

While the war rages on, attacks continue to kill and injure civilians, damage homes and critical infrastructure, and disrupt lives across Ukraine. 

This was the fifth consecutive attack on Odesa City.

Three days later, a strike on a seaside recreational area near the port of Chornomorsk killed a 16-year-old boy and injured more civilians who were enjoying their leisure time at the site.

Highest civilian casualties

In June, civilian casualties in Ukraine reached their highest level since April 2022, according to the latest report by the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission to Ukraine. Humanitarian organizations continue to provide emergency assistance, protection services and psychosocial support to help people cope with loss, trauma and devastation. 
 

In the first six months of 2026, humanitarian partners delivered assistance to nearly 1.3 million people affected by strikes across Ukraine as per the 2026 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan. Their support included medical and psychological assistance, distribution of hot meals and shelter materials, legal assistance and other essential services to help people in the aftermath of attacks.

Meanwhile, needs continue to grow as attacks across the country increase. In the first six months of 2026, civilian casualties were 37 per cent higher than the number recorded in the same period in 2025 and 114 per cent higher than in the same period in 2024. 

Meanwhile, needs continue to grow as attacks across the country increase. In the first six months of 2026, civilian casualties were 37 per cent higher than the number recorded in the same period in 2025 and 114 per cent higher than in the same period in 2024. 

Behind every emergency call, every humanitarian response and every statistic are people enduring profound suffering and loss. 

Those agonizing hours of uncertainty as Halyna waited for news of her son, repeating the last word she had heard him say: “Mom…” will stay with me forever.

There are countless other grief-stricken people across Ukraine, mourning the loss of their loved ones. It is a stark reminder of the devastating human cost of this war and of the urgent need to continue supporting people whose lives have been shattered by violence.