Ms Olena Dmytriieva:

It is an honour for me to have the opportunity to speak before the committee. Our Ukraine is going through a difficult time. Russian troops are destroying cities, killing Ukrainians. More than 200 children have already died.

We live in Kyiv. Our family has a seriously ill child. This is not an easy ordeal for any family but we felt happy together. My husband did his favourite job and I spent most of my time with my daughter, helping her with her education and rehabilitation and other things. Our family likes travelling or just walking with our dog. We have a dog, Jessie, and she is our antidote to stress and our companion.

Everything was changed after 24 February. The most important task was to survive. It superseded all other plans. Our city was under daily bombardment and we could not get into the bomb shelter and stay there because I have some mobility problems and my daughter could have an epileptic seizure at any moment. So we stayed at our apartment and hoped the rockets would not hit our house. I thanked God every night that we were alive and believed that we would have tomorrow.

I will speak about people I know personally. My husband's eldest daughter spent ten days in the basement because there was constant fighting nearby. She stayed with her friend, two small kids and a dog without any connections. Another Ukrainian family that arrived to Ireland with us recently discovered that their apartment burned down when a rocket hit a house recently. My daughter's classmate died with her mother when a rocket hit the building in which they lived. These are only a few stories among many in different parts of Ukraine, unfortunately.

Children with disabilities suffer more than others in a war. They are helpless and cannot live without medicine and medical care in most cases. This affected us as well. We could not find medicine for our daughter in Ukraine during the war. When the opportunity to save the child arose, the decision was made instantly. I am very grateful to fate for bringing us together with incredible people. We were used to relying only on ourselves and when we found ourselves in a difficult position, complete strangers helped us, including volunteers, social workers, doctors and just casual acquaintances. Different people tried to help us solve any problems. Of course, we are immensely grateful to trusted charity, WALK, the people who organised this move for four Ukrainian families with children with disabilities, and who surrounded us with care and attention, picked us up in Poland and brought us to Ireland and solved absolutely all the problems that arose during our trip. Joe Mason, Catherine Kelly and Kevin Power, you will forever be in our hearts. You made us feel like we were visiting close family. That is very important when we are 3,000 km away from our country.

For more than a month we have been living in this beautiful country with hospitable Irish people who know the price of independence, gave shelter to our family and many Ukrainian families. It is very important for us to understand that we are not left alone with an enemy who kills our people just because we want to remain free and independent. Thank you so much for everything.