The news about war started to spread widely in Ukraine three or four months before it actually started. I was trying to prepare somehow, but when you are in an ordinary state of mind, your brain doesn’t believe that somebody without reason will start to attack a peaceful country.
Near 4:30 AM on February 24, I woke up with some strange feeling. I opened the news to check if maybe something has happened already. And yes, Vladimir Putin was giving a new fake history lesson. It was a terrible feeling that everything would happen now, but still, my brain tried to believe that everything would be fine and it was just a bluff.
Near 5 AM, my previous life, habits, and plans were ruined. At that time, the whole city heard a few huge explosions… and then the next two days were like being in a fog. For the last 15 days, the air raid alert became almost the usual signal for moving to the bomb shelter. The Russian Army is shooting everywhere, including hospitals, ordinary households, kindergartens, and other civilian infrastructure. In Odesa, they are using their ships and trying to land their amphibious assault.
At the same time, I see a tremendous social mobilization and growth of activism. I see that everybody is trying to be helpful and produce as much help as they can. Our army is fighting very bravely, and everybody is trying to help the country’s defense.
It was great to see how people and governments worldwide support Ukraine and our people. I appreciate countries that started to support Ukraine with ammunition and defensive weapons, all the people and foundations that support people in need and provide humanitarian aid to refugees. At the same time, Russia has a vast army and behaves in an inhuman way and destroys cities and infrastructure. So I hope that other countries, especially from the EU and NATO, will provide even more support to defend our people, our country, and human values.