On the 24th, Stasya woke us up and said that the war had begun. She called at 5 in the morning and told us to get up, the Russians are shelling us. I heard the sounds of explosions. I woke up the kids and told them to dress up just in case. On this day, I immediately called my husband, he returned home and we prepared a bag with documents and important things. Then the sirens began to buzz and we went outside to look for a bomb shelter. А military plane flew very low over our house.
We found shelter in our house, but it is very poor there since our house is old. It's more of a basement than a shelter. Nothing was adjusted. We started looking for other places to hide. Nearby there was a parking lot of a new building in which there were a lot of exhaust fumes. There were kind people who immediately gave us bedding and so on. Then our friends came to our house and we started looking for a proper shelter. We found a warm, dry shelter with a toilet, found mattresses and took food with us. It was very very dirty around me, we washed everything for a long time, including red dust. We sat there for 3 days. Everything was complicated by the fact that we had an old bedridden grandmother who stopped eating and drinking and we had to visit her every day and take care of her. My husband and I did this every day to the sound of the sirens.
One day we decided to return home, as everyone was coughing a lot from red dust and we were tired of sleeping in a bomb shelter. We went home and slept there for two nights. At some point, something exploded very violently near our house and it frightened us insanely. We took our bags and to the sound of sirens, we went with the children to the station. My reaction to stress was a contraction of the whole body. I didn't eat or drink for 3 days and I couldn't sleep. Then we went to the station. Since there is no transport, we walked 10 km to the station on foot. Everywhere there were a lot of soldiers and fences for tanks. Trams and transport did not run. Shops are open only for 2 hours a day. All the roads were full of people. A lot of my friends have volunteered. They began to cook food and open free dentistry clinics. Those who have cars help to evacuate people. Nobody counts on humanitarian aid, everyone is helping. Once upon a time, we stood in line at the store, and a car pulled up and gave us huge boxes of nuggets for free. I am thankful to all the volunteers who were supporting us. I still cannot believe that Ukrainian people are so kind and supportive of each other.
My husband decided to take us to Vinnytsia and return to Kyiv to visit his mother. Then we got on the train, which was free and it was evacuating everyone. The train was packed. Everyone was standing and there was no place to sit. The lights weren't on all night for safety purposes. We stood all night. We arrived in Vinnytsia and stayed with my mother for a while, I went to sew special garments for the military and heard how the Vinnytsia airport began to be bombed. It was very close to us and I heard 8 explosions. It frightened me and it became terribly unbearable to stay there.
Igor visited his grandmother in Kyiv, but on March 9 she died. There were no funerals. She was cremated. While Igor was doing all this, we left for Uzhgorod and met with Stasya, Angela and Katya. I was shocked by the help of volunteers and the amount of everything they gave us and how they supported us at the border. It's insanely nice. In France, we are supported and helped. We are extremely pleased and incredibly grateful.
My friends stayed in Kyiv and we call each other every day. I hope that everything will be over soon and I will be able to come to Kyiv. I love Kyiv, Ukraine and I had a great life before the war and also the opportunity to travel. I loved living in Ukraine and I would like to return soon. Glory to Ukraine, Glory to the army of Ukraine. They are the hope for our lives and the existence of our country.
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