Krieg. Geschichten aus der Ukraine

Ukrainer erzählen, wie sie im Krieg leben

„Die Besatzer beschießen alles“, Olena, 29, Charkiw

von | 4 März 2022 | Kharkiv, Krieg. Geschichten aus der Ukraine

 

I’ve been trying to reach 29-year-old Olena from Kharkiv all day. Because of the war, the city is experiencing communications breakdowns and the absence of one in the network can mean serious problems. I was glad to finally be able to hear Olena’s voice that evening. I felt their exhaustion over hundreds of kilometers that separate us.

-Hello Lena, how are you?

– It’s going ok.

She is my childhood friend. I’m having a hard time doing this interview. Hard to imagine how she gives answers in the basement, where she has been with her little daughter for a week.

„There are explosions now too. The occupiers shoot at everything. We live in the city center and there are always explosions. Almost the whole city is destroyed. We were lucky that the bullet didn’t hit the house but a nearby tree. But we still almost do not leave the basement. As soon as we go home, sirens wail. And we return to cover again”, – says Olena.

She and her family have been in the basement since the first day of the war, February 24th. No one prepared for war, but hearing the explosions, they immediately understood: they must flee to cover. You didn’t want to leave the city. The family believed that everything would end in a day or two. It was hard to imagine that everything would happen in such a way that residential buildings would also be shelled and that almost nothing would remain of the city.

“The first thing I felt was fear for my child. It still stays with me. Why does my child have to sit in the basement while someone enjoys life ? – Olena does not hide her anger. Your basement is not the worst. The residents furnished it themselves. She hangs out with a lot of neighbors with young children, which helps control emotions. You have the food for a few days. She bought the children’s goods for the coming week in the first days of the war. At that time you could still buy something.

In such situations, humanity was expressed particularly clearly, which had not been so pronounced before.

The family helps Olena not to lose heart. She has no idea if it would be possible to leave town with the child now. She didn’t want to take any chances and go somewhere under fire. My girlfriend hopes for a quick victory of Ukraine, and only if there is another scenario, she will go abroad.

Olena is convinced that the city will be rebuilt if only it remains Ukrainian. Now she only dreams of peace. A week ago she had other plans: „I dreamed of taking courses and learning a new job. I wanted to travel, buy a house, a car. Of course, together with my husband, I wanted to make sure that the family enjoyed prosperity. But one person (Putin – ed.) destroyed our plans… The plans of the whole nation”.    

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