Daria (37), Theodor (8)

March 21, 2022, Bratislava. Day 25 of the war.

She was intensively looking for a job when we met. Something creative. She has obviously inherited her creative genes from her parents. She knows she needs to do something. Something to occupy her mind, to distract her from the war. And of course she needs a job so she can provide for her son and her mom while they are here. Not an easy task when you are in a foreign country, not speaking the language. But she is a hard worker, willing to do what is necessary. Yet another strong woman dealing with consequences of the war in her home country.

“My name is Daria, I am 37 years old and I am a designer from Kiev. I had a job in an interior company. I have a son who is 8 years old and his name is Theodor. I am divorced and I live with my parents. We had quite nice life in Kiev. But this war has changed it all. Now we are in Slovakia. The country is beautiful, so are its people, they are very kind. I have a few friends in Bratislava and they helped us to find this place where we could stay for a few days. We are hoping that the Russians will end the war and leave our country."

"We left Kiev on February 26, two days after the war started. We stayed in the bomb shelter for two nights. Those were very long two days and two nights. It was very difficult. We heard explosions, a few houses near our place were destroyed, so we decided to leave our home. My father decided to stay in Ukraine at the very last moment. He said he is going to stay so he could protect our house and that he is going to help our people, our friends who stayed there."

"First we went to the countryside where friends of my parents live. We stayed there for 6 or 7 days. The community of people whom we stayed with was really nice, they were very intelligent, very nice people. They were teachers, some of them have been working for a TV company. They have all stayed there for a short period of time in order to be safe. I called my friends' father Alexander yesterday. He still stays there and he said that they are safe for the moment, that the war still didn’t make it to the town where they are. But they don’t know what might happen tomorrow. Nobody knows." 

"From there we went to Lviv for 2 days, then we stayed in a house of my friends family in Drogobich for another 5 days. After that we went to Uzhhorod for a day and then we have decided to leave our home country. The only reason why we left was that I wanted my child to be safe. I'm thinking about going back to Kiev everyday. My father is there, my boyfriend is there. It is very difficult for me. If I didn’t have my son, I would have definitely stayed in Kiev. I would be volunteering and helping my friends at the train station or somewhere else. I would stay at home."

"All the people close to my heart are there. We are in touch, we speak together every day. My boyfriend is a member of the territorial defense and my father is helping with the overall organization at the bomb shelter at school. He volunteered to do that, he goes there every night. He is a book illustrator. My boyfriend was a lecturer at the University of design. They have organized a process of online learning at the university. Not every school has something like that, but many of them are trying."

"Situation in Kiev isn’t good. It cannot be good under these circumstances. People there live without electricity, the food in shops is nonexistent, it's problematic to get a hold of medicine. But people are helping one another. They are bringing things someone needs from one side of the city to another, they would drive their cars and deliver the medicine where it’s needed."

"I have friends in Russia, in Moscow. I also have many friends in Crimea as my former husband came from there. Yesterday I spoke to my friend Masha from Crimea and she told me that most people there are against the war, they watch Ukrainian news channels, they know about everything, but they cannot do anything. Their position is passive. The same situation is in Russia. My friend told me that there are many people against the war, but if they go and take it to the streets, the police takes them in. The general mood of the people there is apathetic, especially the youth. The older generation, moms and dads believe in Russian propaganda. There are many conflicts in families there. I think that they could change something if there are many people protesting. If they did something similar to what we have done in Maidan in 2014. They could show the authorities that they do not agree with their decisions. They need to protest and organize demonstrations."

"My son is big enough, he understands. He knows that Russia is not a friend, but an enemy. He knows that Ukrainians are going to fight. My son knows who the enemy is. He knows why we had to leave. I talk to him about it every day. He misses his grandfather and friends. He tells me about how much he wants to go home everyday. I hope he goes to school here so he could be distracted a little and so he would stop thinking about the war."