Irina (41, she had Birthday 2 days ago), Illia (15)

Thursday, March 17, 2022, Bratislava. Day 21 of the war.

...We walked with our hands up and white scarves tied to our sleeves, because we heard that people had been shot in the village next to us the day before. Supposedly because there were men among them. We walked 9 kilometers...

"We have survived first 2 weeks of war in Kharkov. Our part of the city has been attacked as first, as we are not far from the Russian border. I woke up to the sound of explosions on the morning of February 24. Russians started bombing the airport, which can be seen from our window. At first we didn't understand what was going on. We were preparing for this situation in advance, we already had the documents ready, but not the other necessary things. We immediately went to the cellar. Me, my son, and mother-in-law. We were there with our neighbors. My husband was at work, he came home when the explosions stopped. Unfortunately, our car was parked in a garage not far from the military base, so we couldn't go there and take it and leave by car. Shortly afterwards, the people of the city were not allowed to leave. Those who did not manage to leave had to stay. The Russians began bombing apartment buildings. We moved further from our housing estate, we went to the still unfinished house of the mother-in-law. Fortunately, the house had a cellar, where we hid for 2 weeks. The surrounding villages were under Russian control the day after the war started. We saw our surroundings being shelled, but we couldn't leave. One of the rockets hit a block of flats next to ours."

"We learned that the Russians would allow people to leave the city. We walked with our hands up and white scarves tied to our sleeves, because we heard that people had been shot in the village next to us the day before. Supposedly because there were men among them. We walked 9 kilometers. Our soldiers then took us to safety, where we stayed overnight and the next day they put us on a train to Lviv. There is no more place for incoming people to Lviv anymore. We have friends in Poland, we will probably go there, because my son needs to go back to school. They promised to help us with accommodation. We must first rest and calm down. My husband calls us every day, saying that our block of flats is already completely destroyed. The buildings are still standing, there are no windows in our apartment. Fortunately, he doesn't fight, he had an accident at work. He is helping others and takes care of our parents."

"I have a family in Russia. Some relatives understand what's going on, that it's bad and they keep their fingers crossed for us. However, they are older people, they can't do anything, they just sit at home and think of us. The second part doesn't understand what's going on at all. They think we started it. I want to wish them sincere condolences, because a sane person must understand and see what is happening. There are those who go to protests, but they are being beaten and arrested. I feel sorry for them because there is nothing they can do about it. I still can't believe something like this can happen at all. This is the 21st century, there are smart people everywhere, we have new technologies, we're flying into space, Elon Musk, Starlink ... and we have a war in the 21st century? I do not understand that. Many cities have simply been destroyed. Our city was a beautiful European city. So we loved it and were proud of it. We had a job, a house, our son went to school. Since 2014, I have worked in an organization helping people who ran away from the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. I never thought that one day I would be on the side of these people and that I would need help."