A Ukrainian woman living in Leitrim has been told that four members of her family have been killed in a Russian attack on their hometown of Shyroka Balka near Kherson Oblast.
Kateryna Konyshcheva, 18, who has been in Leitrim just a few months and works in BR Bistro in Carrick-on-Shannon, got a call from her aunt in Ukraine yesterday with the devastating news.
Some of the people coming through the door of the restaurant this afternoon had never met the young woman they were going in to sympathise with, but they went out of a deep sense of sorrow for her tragic loss.
Ms Konyshcheva lost her mother Olesya Konishcheva, 39, her stepfather Dmitro Planida, 35, her younger brother Artem and her baby sister Sophia, who was just 23 days old and whom she had never met.
Speaking to RTÉ, Ms Konyshcheva said she spoke to her aunt who told her "no mother, no stepfather, no sister, little brother in hospital but no brother, he won't live".
Ms Konyshcheva's brother Artem had been rushed to hospital but did not survive.
She said "I hurt, I'm in pain, but I'm strong" and added "now I need to live, this is my family", indicating to her boyfriend, her employers and colleagues in the restaurant.
The Ukrainian woman has been supported by her employers at the bistro, Bashkim Berisha and Ramona Cucharec, who closed down their business earlier today but opened their doors in the afternoon so that people could come in and sign a book of condolence and show their support for Kateryna.
Ms Konyshcheva's boyfriend Oleksandr Khominets and Mr Berisha sat beside her as she spoke in halting English of the pain she feels and how she wants the world to know what happened to her family.
She remembers her mother as a hardworking woman who looked forward every day to receiving messages from her daughter in Ireland.
Ms Konyshcheva is finding it very hard to understand how her family could be wiped out, Mr Berisha says, "she is numb and we are all just numb".
Ms Konyshcheva has a grandmother who is in her 70s, another sister aged 16 and a brother aged 20 who is in Poland and she hopes that some day they will be able to join her in Ireland.
She says she is very grateful to everyone in Carrick-on-Shannon and her employers and colleagues in BR Bistro who she describes as her new family here, for their support and help.
Mr Berisha said the community in Carrick-on-Shannon have been great.
"We are a small town with a big heart," he said, and his phone has been "boiling" with people calling him about the tragedy.
Ms Konyshcheva is going through a very difficult time, he said, but people are here to help her now and into the future.
Read more: Russian forces kill seven including baby in Ukraine
