Eight years ago, Valeriia Vershynina was forced to flee her home in Donetsk, Ukraine and relocate to Kyiv after Russian-backed separatist forces took control of the region in 2014.
But after Russia's latest attack on Ukraine, Vershynina was displaced again to Lviv. Now, days after arriving in the western Ukrainian city, she's helping other internally displaced people while working with GlobalMedic, a Toronto-based disaster relief organization.
"When it first happened, we all were very shocked because we can't believe that Russia can attack Ukraine," she told CTV News National Affairs Correspondent Omar Sachedina on Saturday. "Now we have no shock. Now we know what to do. We had eight years to understand that we should fight for our independence.â€
In Ukraine, Vershynina and other aid workers and volunteers have been preparing food at a hotel kitchen for the thousands of Ukrainians who have poured into Lviv since the start of the invasions. All the food has been paid for by GlobalMedic and is being offered for displaced people.
"They need food because most of them have spent two or three days in the road. We prepare special food boxes, like lunch boxes, for these people and bring hot food to the railway station," she said.
Some of these people have long journeys ahead of them as they head towards Poland and other neighbouring European countries, often travelling by foot for days.
"You should understand that most of the people who come, it's women, it's children, it's elderly people. So, we developed a menu (that) includes soup and salad and some food with meat so they can choose to take a few sets or just one of what they need," Vershynina said.
More than a million Ukrainians have been internally displaced as a result of the war, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. The UN says an additional 1.3 million Ukrainians have gone to neighbouring countries and up to four million could leave Ukraine in the coming weeks if the conflict continues.
But Vershynina says she has no plans to leave her country. If she doesn't defend her home, she believes that Vladimir Putin's attacks won't stop at Ukraine. She said that helping other internally displaced people "gives me a reason to live."
"How many times should I be displaced? I think that even two times to be displaced, it's too much. So we should stay, fight and win," she said.
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