My Journey to Safety! A Ukrainian Story of Survival as Told by Anastasia Khozyainova

On the morning of February 24, 2022, I woke up because of loud noises. At first, I thought it was thunder because it was raining outside, but actually what I heard were bombs falling.

I realized that I had to leave my house, which was in the center of Mariupol. The next day, I went to my grandmother Iryna’s house on the outskirts of the city. Later, my mother, Kateryna, joined my grandmother, cousin, and me. Grandma’s house provided safety for a while, but we had to sleep in the basement for several days.

Once, a missile fell in our vegetable garden while we were hiding in the basement. The explosion was deafening. I prayed earnestly to Jehovah. After a week, we knew that it was no longer safe to stay in Grandma’s house, so we decided to go back to the center of the city to find a way to evacuate. I begged Jehovah to keep us safe and get us out of there.

It was the morning of March 4. There were no trains available from Mariupol because the city was under siege. So, we took shelter in the city’s theater with hundreds of others for the next ten days. It was so crowded that we had to sleep on the floor. Conditions were unsanitary, and it was very difficult to get food and hot water. We had to stand in line for hours.

One day, a missile exploded a short distance away from the theater. The impact was so strong that many of the windows were blown out, letting in the bitter cold.

Anastasia with her grandmother Iryna and cousin Andrii

What helped me during this difficult time? The account of Job. When I saw people panicking over the explosions, I would read the account of Job in my Bible. It made me feel better. It was as if I was sitting in that theater with Job, saying to him: “How well I understand you now!” Job had lost everything: his family, his health, and his possessions. I had just lost material things. My family was with me, we were all alive and well. In that moment, I realized that it wasn’t all that bad. Then I felt better.

On March 14, we learned that a group had successfully escaped the city. So, we also decided to leave. We were able to find transport along with others from the theater.

A convoy of 20 vehicles left the city. Fourteen of us were cramped together in the back of a cargo van. Bombs were falling all around us as we traveled. I prayed constantly. Once we made it out of Mariupol, our driver stopped the vehicle, got out, and burst into tears. He had avoided all of the land mines dotting the roadway. We learned that two days after we fled, the theater was bombed, killing at least 300 people.

After 13 hours, we reached Zaporizhia. The next morning, we boarded a train to Lviv. There were 16 people in a train car usually occupied by only four people. It was very hot. I stood in the corridor almost the entire way. That was the only place to get fresh air. On March 16, we arrived in Lviv, where we were warmly greeted by our dear brothers and sisters. We took shelter in a Kingdom Hall for the next four days. The care shown by the brothers and sisters moved me to tears. This was a gift from Jehovah.

On March 19, we decided to leave Ukraine and go to neighboring Poland, where my grandmother, mother, cousin, and I were again greeted by fellow Witnesses. They provided us with everything we needed. We were surrounded by love.but after living through all these trials, I’ve learned how important it is to build faith when things are going well. Faith helps you survive. If I hadn’t done personal study before the war, it would have been much more difficult.

Jehovah is a caring Father. The whole time, I felt as if he had taken my right hand and was leading me the entire way. I will never be able to fully thank Jehovah for everything he has done for me.—Isaiah 41:10.

I’m only 19 years old, but after living through all these