Hello! My name is Arina Fedortsova, I am 23 years old, and I am from the city of Vitebsk. My husband had been fighting in Ukraine since March 2023. He served in the Kastus Kalinouski Regiment, first as a reconnaissance fighter and later as an infantry squad commander. In January 2025, during a combat mission, he went missing in action.
Before the war, we lived in Gdańsk. We had to leave Belarus because my husband had been detained several times for political reasons, and it was unsafe to stay. After the attack on Ukraine, I volunteered and raised donations for the fighters. My husband decided to go to the war. He didn’t tell me until the last moment. I couldn’t say, “Don’t go, it’s dangerous,” because he always stood for justice. In August 2023, I came to Ukraine to be with the only loved one I had left. Besides him, I have no one: my mother died of cancer in 2020, and my father passed away in 2019.
Now my husband is gone, and I am completely alone. Since we are both citizens of the Republic of Belarus, I am not entitled to any payments. While he was fighting, I stayed in Ukraine as a military spouse, but now I have no legal status, which means I cannot work officially. But I don’t want to leave because I cannot stay on the side-lines – it is important for me to help my husband’s brothers-in-arms and the whole unit. And I obviously cannot return to Belarus, so I am collecting documents to get a residence permit.
Unfortunately, the legalization process is dragging on, and I simply have no money to pay for housing or buy food. Moreover, a lawyer’s help to arrange the documents is also not cheap. Right now, I live thanks to the support of my husband’s fellow fighters. It is very hard morally. But my circle helps me a lot – I don’t know what I would do without them. I will be grateful to everyone who can help me in this difficult time.
Fundraising Goal
€3000
€1500 – housing costs for four months
€800 – lawyer’s services and legalization expenses
€600 – food and daily expenses