Liudmyla & Lyubov’s Story
My war story began similarly to all of us. On February 24, I received a phone call at 5 am from my daughter, who lived in Odessa, saying that they were hearing explosions. As best I could, I reassured her that these are just military training exercises but by 7am, it was clear that a real war had begun.
Our city of Akhtyrka was shaken by terrible explosions in different areas. Gathering my courage, I went to the city center and saw many tanks and armored personnel carriers passing through. I didn’t realize that they were Russian invaders, or as we call them, the ORKS. Later that day, we saw shootings that left corpses by the side of the road, left there for several days. We did not have ambulances, police, or firefighters, meaning houses were left to burn down to the ground.
Russian forces began artillery attacks on the city’s ‘Grad/Hail’ – it was insanely scary!
I never even knew the names of these missiles before. And then they bombed our military units, leaving 70 people dead.
My mother, sister, and my niece lived nearby and saw rockets flying over their heads, followed by airstrikes. The ORKS bombed us in the residential sectors and smashed the thermal power plant, leaving the city without electricity and heating. They destroyed the city center and food bases, which led to mass evacuation. I gathered my family and we went to western Ukraine, because there, at that time, explosions had not yet been heard.
Right before we reached the city of Vinnitsa, the bombardment of their airport had just begun. We saw fighter jets passing by and, frightened even more, we decided to go to Europe. For the next four nights we slept on the floor, lived in dormitories, and churches.
Thanks to my friend Kostya, who lives in Canada, we found shelters along the way. He was able to navigate us through Ukraine, planning our route. If not for him, we wouldn’t have had anywhere to spend the night and we would have traveled for much longer. I didn't know where exactly we would arrive but I had a goal to save my family.
After five days of forced travel across Ukraine, we finally crossed the border into Hungary. The worst was over and I wanted to rest and exhale but we needed to continue moving. In such a stressful situation, the brain seems to work at half its capacity.
Having stayed for a couple of days in a hostel in Poland, we began to think about what to do next. My sister, mother, and niece decided to stay in Poznan, and my daughter and I received an invitation from our volunteer friends in Belgium. They graciously agreed to provide us with a room in their house until we could find a separate place to live. Unfortunately, Belgium was not too ready to receive Ukrainians and there was no housing for us from the government, and we could no longer stay with friends, so we set off again.
The next country was Germany. There we lived in the school gym, where there were about 200 folding beds. We were registered, fed, and although the future is unknown, we look forward to our new beginnings.
