The J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott Foundation Is Sponsoring A Home For Korenev Family

On February 24th, a family woke up to explosions. Yuriy (65), Victoria (39), Maria (10), and Danilo (15) immediately made a shelter in the cellar. In the first days, there was no understanding of what was happening. When they saw Russian tanks, they realized they were under occupation. The Russians closed off the village for filtration and mercilessly mistreated the locals who aroused suspicion. The family understood that if they stayed, there would be no chance of survival. They made the decision to leave in their minibus.

When the locals found out that the family was leaving, they begged for help to be taken along. Yuriy took as many people as he could fit and drove through the fields to the village of Prudyanka, where our soldiers were stationed. There, they were given the first bread they had seen in so long.

After the liberation of the village, they returned to the abandoned house of friends in the village, which was partially destroyed from shelling. They fervently hoped that the children would have their own rooms because they all currently lived in one room. In the midst of chaos and destruction, their hope for a semblance of normalcy burned bright.