Anastasia

Sunday, March 13, 2022, Devin. Day 17 of the war.

...the cellar could too become a mass grave...

"When I was getting ready for work on the 24th (I work in a kindergarten), the president declared a state of war on television. All of Europe and America have said there will be a war. I was preparing for it. I've had my suitcase packed for a month. But I didn't know what to do with it. The telephone signal was interrupted. Long lines began to form in front of ATMs and gas stations. We did not have shelter in the kindergarten, we stayed in a room with no windows. I listened to the explosions. There was a military base and a small town being bombed nearby."

"The sirens went on and on. It was impossible to sleep, if, then for a maximum of 3 hours. My husband and I took turns so that someone would wake us up if we had to run. Our daughter could not sleep. She is 9 years old. I'm a weak person, I wouldn't know how to protect her. Sometimes I feel like she's holding up better than me. The only shelter I knew about was 15 minutes from us. The cellars are not suitable for protection against bombing. The brick house will remain standing, but the block of flats will fall. I knew we couldn't hide in places like that. The shelter was soon overcrowded. All of us couldn't fit in. Many stayed all night as the sirens went off every half hour or so."

"I couldn't just sit and do nothing, I was ready to be making a "molotov". We tried to help as volunteers, with supplies, moving, with the money. My husband is still helping. He didn't complete the compulsory military service, and as he hadn't held a gun before, they said they won't need him. Only until there is no longer anyone to fight. We were about to move to an apartment in Hostomel, near the airport which was bombed. My husband works in Kiev, I lived alone with my daughter, we finally had plans to move there and live together. Now we don't even know if the apartment is still standing." 

"I haven't been able to decide to leave for a long time. My uncle and my father were angry with me, but they themselves did not believe that the Russians would level the cities with the ground. They thought they would come, change the president, and things would end quickly. That they would succeed as quickly as with Crimea, Luhansk or Donetsk. However, I knew that there are many people who, like me, do not want to live this way and would defend themselves. At first I wanted to go to my uncles' village, but it was not a safe place, rockets were flying overhead there. If I didn't leave, my husband would have his hands tied. He wouldn't be able to help as much. Now we're both calmer. He calls me and tells me that he misses us, but he's happy we're safe." 

"The journey to the border took us about a day. My daughter didn't understand anything, the hardest part was when I had to tear her away from her father. I am very grateful for the way people have received us here. I am grateful for the calm sky, even though the sounds of the planes still can scare me. I couldn't even make coffee at home because the coffee maker was loud and made similar sounds. I stopped watching horror movies, which I used to enjoy, now it's horror for me to watch the news. I am grateful to our men for fighting, so that our city is still standing. I hope I will have somewhere to go back to and that everyone will be fine. My sister doesn't want to leave because her husband was immediately called in the army. She has 2 children. My parents are there too. Grandma is 84 years old, she is not in a state to hide. She is trying to live a normal life with the knowledge that the cellar too could become a mass grave." 

"My husband and I talked about the fact that we got the country's independence almost for free during the collapse of the Soviet Union. Other countries had to fight for it. We must fight now. 30 years of freedom was probably not enough. It's terrible that people have to die because of this. Many will have nowhere to return, and others will not return at all. I ask God so I could see those I love again. The values ​​which are important to me have changed completely. My daughter and I always wanted a dog, but we didn't deal with it as we were about to move to the new apartment. I would buy it for her now, just so we could go back. I really want to go home."