“My children are safe but my heart hurts because the family is not together. I haven’t seen my husband, and my children’s father, for a year”

On February 24, I woke up and got ready to go to the office. I had a strange feeling that something will happen today that will change my life. When I was standing at a bus stop, I heard explosions. People standing next to me started running in different directions because they understood that the war was starting. But despite everything, I went to work. At work I understood that life will never be the same. After a few hours, my husband picked me up from the office and we decided to leave Kyiv and go to my parents, they still live in the Kyiv region. We packed our things as quickly as possible and together with our two children we went to the community of Katjuzhanka. Then we did not know that we have ended up in hell, after a few hours Katjuzhanka was completely occupied by the Russian army. For a month, my family and I were occupied. We had no electricity, water, heat or food. The battles were constantly going on around us, we saw and heard them. Helicopters flew over our roofs, brushing the treetops.

The Russian army made our community its logistical center. The local school was converted into a military hospital for Russian soldiers. We were terrified and made sure to be with other villagers. Russian soldiers lived in some houses. Tanks, combat vehicles and other military equipment stood on farms and garden land. Twelve people lived with my in-laws, three of whom were children. As time passed, the food began to run out. We started saving food and first fed children and the elderly and then ate the leftovers.
We saw terrible things, when Russian soldiers did so-called “purges” in society. They entered the houses looking for men they thought were soldiers. They threatened, shot up everything that was Ukrainian. They shot at cars with people in them. An acquaintance of my husband was shot with his wife and daughter in their car when they tried to leave the community. There are an infinite number of such stories. People fled in fear and were shot. Then I began to understand the expression “the blood congeals in the veins” for real.

Then we learned that in the community next door there is the Red Cross, which helps people move from occupied to non-occupied territories. The community was 30 km from us, but to make time you had to cross a river. It was impossible because the bridge was blown up but the Red Cross had made their own makeshift bridge out of plastic bottles and pieces of wood for people to cross the river. First, children and the elderly were evacuated. I had to part with my daughter and my mother who left first. After ten days, I, my husband and my youngest daughter were able to leave. We returned to our apartment in Kyiv; but flight alerts, constant worry and what we had just experienced forced us to decide to leave Ukraine. First we went to Poland and then to Sweden.

It’s been a year! The war is ongoing, but the memory of everything that happened in the beginning remains. My children are safe but my heart hurts because the family is not together. I haven’t seen my husband, and my children’s father, for a year. But life goes on and I am grateful for everything I have. During this time I have found the strength to start over. I have started to learn Swedish and work in a project that helps other Ukrainian women find jobs and feel worthy in another country that has received them.
However, my girls and I are looking forward to the victory day. Our dream is to return home!