“It’s not common to talk about it”: how to break the cycle of domestic violence

Employees of crisis centers and psychologists assert that not every woman can give up everything and radically change the lives of her children and her own.

Even in a prosperous Europe, where the level of protection and state support for offended women is much higher than in Ukraine, the victim makes an average of seven escape attempts before breaking up with the abuser forever.

"I know many women," says Iryna, a former victim of domestic violence, "who continue to live with abusers. And they don't leave. It's like my story, when I spent several months in hospital after another beating. It's shameful and uncommon to talk about it. It's worse than a sexually transmitted disease."