Bohdan Syniavsky is 28, he is an actor and musician. He was born in Debaltsevo, Donetsk Region. He has lived in Kharkiv since 2010, so he did not experience the battles for Debaltsevo and the occupation of the city in 2015. But he did experience battles for Kharkiv.
He recalls that the days of February 22–24 this year were anxious. His wife and he bought some non-perishable food. And decided they would definitely not leave the city in case of Russia’s full-scale invasion. His wife’s grandfather is disabled, they couldn’t leave him, and the couple also have a pet cat, a dog, a bunny and a fish. Bohdan had heard that something should start on the 24th, so he did not sleep that night. After 5 a.m. he heard explosions, woke up his wife. Together, they sat in the corridor without windows and started thinking about what they should do.
“It seemed to me that we were mentally prepared, at least I was. But when it started, I realized I wasn’t entirely,” says Bohdan. “I still can’t believe that it’s really happening. It’s sort of like a half-shocked state.”
Finally, the family moved to the basement of their friends’ cafe near the city center. Now 16 people spend their nights there, including a 9-months-pregnant woman. The rooms are equipped as a kitchen, so the women have started baking bread which volunteers deliver around the city. Many stores in Kharkiv are closed due to large-scale damage, disruptions of power supply, water supply or heating. Pharmacies are working under a semi-closed regime: people who know how to sell medicine break the locks upon the owners’ permission and report about it in volunteer chatrooms. These chatrooms and Telegram channels are the main sources of information because connection in the city is unstable.
On the third day of the invasion, Bohdan and a friend of his came to volunteer at the Kharkiv Regional State Administration and signed up for Territorial Defense. Bohdan had no combat experience or weapons handling experience, so his friend and he were assigned to a volunteer group. When the curfew was starting, Bohdan would return to his wife, and his friend stayed at the RSA. That’s what also happened on the night of March 1, when the RSA building was hit by a Russian missile.
“We woke up from an explosion. It felt like something hit our building directly,” says Bohdan. “My friend, who stayed there for the night, wasn’t replying for a while but finally told me he’s OK.”
The previous day was also very difficult. The occupation forces started to bomb residential neighborhoods directly, particularly near the city center.
“I wasn’t scared, more like very, very angry,” says Bohdan.
“I don’t know what else there is to be afraid of. The worst has already happened. I’m only afraid for the lives of my loved ones, family, friends, acquaintances. For every person in this city, this country. My dream is for this to end as soon as possible in our favor, which is what will happen.”
In the next few days, Bohdan plans to volunteer at a humanitarian aid distribution center. But he adds, “We don’t plan long-term nowadays.”
“I’m incredibly confident in those guys who are now fighting at the frontline, who are taking up weapons and going to fight back against the troops of this second-largest army in the world which everyone tried to scare us with. Every Ukrainian is doing what they can. If you can’t be useful, you should hide and save your life, so that later, when we win, you could restore the city, restore its life.”
