Olena (42), Darina (16), Artem (10)

Thursday, March 5, 2022, Zilina

...we just want a piece of peace....

"We came in late last night. We would like to wait in a safe place until it's over. We shall wait for my close friend with a kid who should come in the next one or two days and then we will continue to Germany together. We are planning to volunteer there and help with integration of those who came from Ukraine."

"We are monitoring the news about our city and we are in an every day contact with our family. My father and grandparents are still in Kiev. When we see that there is an air raid alert on the news, we immediately call them. It's scary when you call your parents and they don't answer for 20 minutes. You're just waiting for the mark to see that they saw your message. And then you know they are all right. When the war started, on the second day, my children saw how the building next to ours has been hit by a missile. I am half Russian and half Ukrainian, and I have never thought I would change my opinion about the people in Russia. They should not worry about sanctions and big brands closing the stores, they should worry about this war and the peace in our country and about what is going on on this planet."

"We came here by train, it has been un-human. People were jammed like sardines on the train. There were too many of us. There was one elderly woman. When she heard a louder sound, she started shaking. An old person has to go through this. Russians should come to Ukraine and see it with their own eyes."

"People in Russia think that we are making all this up, that it is not real. That we are guilty for provoking Putin. They think that if we would not behave like this this the war wouldn't happen. They talk about SWIFT, the sanctions, but not about what's really happening in Ukraine. They think they are our protectors, our saviours, that they are welcome to Ukraine. More than a million of people already fled the country as of today and I just don't have the words to describe what I feel. They don't see it. They should see that the whole world is supporting Ukraine, but nobody supports Russia. Why is that? I am thinking about all the people, my friends in Kharkov and other cities who are not able to get out from there. They are imprisoned. Russians are bombing houses with people still inside."

"I brought all the documents we may need, but I left the marriage certificate with my husband in Ukraine. I left it there in belief that we will come back, like a symbol or a promise to my husband. He is in the territory defence and we both want to believe that this will be over soon. But it's very difficult to believe it right now." 

"We are very thankful to all the people helping us, to Slovakia and all other countries helping our people. Here I was finally able to sleep for four hours straight, not waking up to the sound of the sirens. We came from Kiev, which has been bombed every few hours. It's incredible to see peaceful sky again."