Oksana (45)

April 10, 2022, Pruske. Day 45 of the war.

She is a mother, she has not known what happened to her daughter for 17 days. Is she alive? Is she fine? Did something happen to her? Not a single mother wants to experience such a fear. To this day, she has no information about her daughter's father. They are getting a divorce, but they had a good relationship. Even divorce proceedings do not change the fact that he is the father of her child. And he's missing.

"My daughter and I met on the way to Poland. Until then, I was in Odessa and she was in Mariupol. I didn't know anything about her for 17 long days. Only during the evacuation, when they finally had the signal, did she manage to call me and tell me that they were OK, alive and well." 

"Everyone told me not to watch the news, it made the situation even more difficult. It was almost calm in Odessa. Some people left, a few shops were closed, but life there was almost as before. I worked in a store, but they closed it about a month ago. The owners fled because they were afraid. I understand this. My husband and I are getting a divorce, but we had a relatively good relationship, we communicated together. I have no information about him now, I don't know if he's ok." 

"We arrived in Slovakia on April 6, before that we were in Poland for a few days. There was already a problem finding accommodation, even a paid one. We also left with a cat, so it was all the more difficult to find a roof over our head. We don't know what will happen next. We have to complete the registration with the Foreign Police on Monday, so we will be able to start looking for a job. After the war, we will look for my daughter's husband, who is currently in the Navy. We want to go home. Home is home!" 

"My father is no longer alive, but my mother stayed at home in Zaporozhye. I am also from there. She is still fine, they often have air-raid sirens, but they are still safe." 

"I don't know what to call what's going on correctly. The nation is just suffering and someone wants to divide something? I don't know what to call it. I am not a politician, I cannot judge anyone, but big mistakes have been made on both sides. My family in Russia supports us, but even there are people arguing with one another. We've all lived and worked here together before. Now does anyone remember that someone was given a piece of land and that that someone wants to deal with it? When you ask anyone, everyone will tell you that we only want peace and stability. We lived well. No one has ever told us the truth, and never will. That is the fate of ordinary people." 

"You know, I've had my life, but what about the young people? I don't understand why we left our houses. Only so they can fight there? Neither side came out to fight in the field, but they hid behind our houses. Let them go to fight on the broad plains and not in our cities. Let them fight there as much as they want. We had plans, and now we're left with uncertainty."