The evening of 23 February was eventful and at the same time usual. I remember all details of that evening and the next morning as well. It was the first time when I really start thinking about the war. I didn’t have enough time to read the news and think about the threat of russia’s invasion. Now, I can’t believe that there was the time when I didn’t read the news.
I finished studying in the IT school at approximately 5 p.m. I had been selected for free education there, and I really enjoyed studying there because of the unusual approach to the student’s education. Now studying in the school is suspended and plans for future are very uncertain and vague.
So, I finished studying in the IT school, said goodbye to my friends. I was going to return here the next day and meet them again. I didn’t know that the next day I would write the message “Yesterday, at the same time, we were smoking in Unit”. I sat behind the wheel of my father’s Ford and drive to pick up my friends on the meeting place. Two days ago, I would drive this car away from Kyiv.
I am little lost my way in the cobwebs of Kyiv streets and finally drove to Retroville mall. A few weeks ago, this mall would be destroyed by russia’s missile. My friends and I were going to return to my home to have fun watching some movies, speaking about everything and doing everything that friends do together. But it wasn’t a good idea to go from one side of the city to another one in the rush hours. It’s obviously that we got into the terrible traffic jam. We got stuck on a narrow street before the bridge over the Dnipro river. After some time, we decided to go back to the Retroville mall and wait until the end of rush hours.
We returned there and started looking for the gift for my friend Olga who has the birthday 24th of February. The wallet bought on that day is waiting to be gifted until now.
After we had found the perfect present, we headed to the McDonald’s to have something delicious to eat. It was something very usual, and we didn’t know that the next day, visiting this restaurant would become impossible. And here we began talking about the threat of war. It seemed to us to be impossible in the 21st century. We didn’t believe that there is such evil in the world that could start a war just for imperialism ideas and one’s ambitions. The next morning, we would believe.
After the congestions on the roads had disbanded, we came out of the mall and headed home. The thought about the opportunity of war didn’t leave my head while we were cooking a dinner, watching a movie and folding puzzles. I fell asleep with this, though, and it seemed to me that I even was not surprised when Jasmine woken me up at 5:30 a.m. with the words:
— Dasha, wake up. Mom just called me and said that there are bombings in Kyiv.
I had taken my phone and saw the messages from my friend:
— Dasha, are beating everywhere: Kharkiv, Kyiv, Kramatorsk
— There is the aerodrome near me
— Aeroplanes have been flying since 5 a.m.
— Dasha, I’m scared
— EXPLOSION. I just heard explosion
I jumped out of bed without understanding what’s happening. The only way I saw was to call my father.
— Hello, pa. What should I do? — I felt tears on my eyes but tried to be calm and cold-blooded.
He didn’t sleep. He answered me with the calm voice:
— Well, gradually pack up your things.
It turned out later that he got mother’s call earlier than mine. He didn’t believe her and said to sleep calmly. At that moment, there were no official news about what was going on. There were only calls and messages from relatives and friends.
I started to pack something in my backpack. I didn’t know what I would need, just taken something what could be useful. I didn’t have cash at all. I was not ready to such situation. Likewise, I was going to withdraw some cash this day.
I called to my boyfriend who were in the countryside:
— Artem, do you have some cash, where is the cash?
He was sleeping. He didn’t know that the war started.
— What? — asked he was sleepy.
— There are explosions in Kyiv. Where is your cash, I will take some.
He explained to me where is the cash and I took some money.
Half an hour passed when Jasmine, Misha and I sat down in Ford. We were going to my parents (mother and grandmother were at home) just to be together. All this half an hour we read the news, gossips, and messages from acquaintances to get some information from different regions of Ukraine, to know what awaits us. But nobody knew.
Driving out of the yard, I bumped into the small fence in there. But it didn’t matter. Only a few months after that, dad would notice scratches on the car, but he would tell me nothing about this.
We arrived at home. Jasmine left us to meet her mother. They were going to travel to Zakarpattia. Misha left with not knowing what to do and how to reach his home village.
We turned on the TV, read Telegram-channels to know what’s happening. I wrote and called to everyone I know to understand where they are and what is happening to them.
But the worst is the picture of the panic. All these queues to the shops, people, packing their things into the car, and the terrible congestions of cars. If these cars were thousands of families who wanted to leave their home city. These people were scared, they were ready to stand in traffic jams for hours to get away from the city to the place where they will be out of danger of war.
Misha left us to go home. My father said to us to stay at home until the next day. He understood that it would be difficult for me to sit behind the wheel after such a day. At that time, only a month has passed as I learned to drive.
5 a.m. 25th February. Dad called to mom and said to drive away from Kyiv because the situation is getting worse. russians are closer to Kyiv.
After the hour, we all were in the black Ford. We were running away from the war to the calm countryside.
Now I’m in Kyiv again. Jasmine and Misha today were in my flat, and we were celebrating my birthday. If it can be called celebration.
I believe that the war will end so soon and each Ukrainian who was forced to leave their house will return home.
