I am in Mykolaiv. It is quiet right now, but some hours ago we had an air raid alert. According to the information from our authorities, there may be some groups of Russian soldiers in our town. Yesterday a group of tanks got into the central part of Mykolaiv. They shot at one of our shopping malls – why the shopping mall? We don’t know!
The day before yesterday we heard sound of a plane, then – the sound of bombing. We were lying on the floor in the flat. Actually, we are lying or sitting on the floor as far as possible from the windows right now. My cat is lying next to me.
How am I feeling? Day one, Thursday – I was shocked, scared, and cried from time to time. I had just one thing which I repeated in my head again and again: Russians, what did we do to you? Why do you want to kill us?
Day two was worse. I got information that the Russians are bombing Kyiv, Kharkiv, other towns and cities… I cried a lot that day.
Yesterday I felt a bit better. The thing is that I was in Luhansk, a town in the Donbas, in 2014. I realized that my experience can help people. I tried to support some of my friends here in Mykolaiv. They were lost, scared, distracted, they were in a panic. I spent a lot of time talking to them on the phone, or sending messages, giving advice, telling them what to do, saying something funny.
As for today, I am feeling that I hate them – those who came on my land to kill us and our kids. And I’m reading about the support that people around the world give us – and I am really grateful to them. I hope so much that we are not alone.
I want Western audiences to know that we are on our land and we are fighting for our land. We didn’t start this war. Russians came onto our land. We didn’t come to theirs. We just want to be free, to be part of the European community – and they are bombing us for this! It’s nonsense that this is happening now, in the 21st century, in a European country – Ukraine. Isn’t this horrible?
We need your help, really!
Yesterday, I signed a petition to NATO to close our sky. I want your governments to realize that if we don’t stop Putin together, he will go further… he won’t stop. Putin is the Hitler of today. And it isn’t a metaphor, it’s true!
Maybe publish more photos of what is really going on here… the scared eyes of children… the results of bombing our places… just information that we didn’t attack anyone – we just want to live on our land. And, of course, we don’t want to ask Putin how we should live and what we should do. They are killing our children. They are killing our young men! They are killing our people. Help us to stop them, please!
Moments that stick out in my mind… the eyes of my six-year-old students who were looking at me. I had online classes with them on the first day of the war, and it was really hard to smile at them. They showed me their favorite toys and told me about them, and then, all together shouted: Glory to Ukraine!
I have had phone calls from my friends all around Ukraine – each time we talk, we say “I love you.” Any of our talks could be the last one, you see… my pupils’ parents send me messages saying “I love you”…
And sometimes I receive messages from my Russian relatives! Something like “don’t worry, just two or three days – and Putin will help you!” I can’t answer them. It hurts! Their position kills, but they don’t understand!