The Main Thing | UkrainianWarStories

The Main Thing is that we are Alive

I want to share with you how I experienced war without even shooting a single bullet.

The situation in Kyiv during the first days of the Russian war against Ukraine was really very tense.

Particularly the wailing of air raid sirens and sprints to the nearest bomb shelter (actually a nearby multistory car park). On the third day of the invasion, we made a decision in our family council to leave Kyiv and to go to the suburbs which would be safer and more secure for my family. I myself (the father of the family) planned to return to Kyiv to help support the country’s territorial defense team.

So we started off and had to detour some 110 km (68.4 miles). Usually, it would take three times less time. In general, with some moral tension, wondering if we were doing the right thing, we managed to reach the village of X.

For the first two days, it was nice and comfortable and we had fast internet. There is beautiful nature all around our house. You could describe it as a one-horse town with lots of marshes and no proper road coming through it, unlike many of elite “dacha villages” for the Soviet political elite with golf courses, outdoor swimming pools and hunting grounds. It was a very basic former Soviet-era dacha (holiday house) cooperative between forested hills and wild fields. It is located in between two international motorways that turned out to be extremely dangerous.

At the end of the second day, we had a total blackout with no electricity, no gas and no internet connection. Our only modern convenience was a generator that we could use for not more than one hour twice a day, to warm the house, cook food and charge mobile phones. Our communication with the outside world came to an abrupt end.

On the third night missiles started to fly above our dacha, then Russian military aeroplanes. Our Ukrainian forces started to shoot them down. I was very relieved and happy about that. Honestly! However, when the debris started to fall on our heads it was no laughing matter. Debris was falling on our yard and set fire to the forest. The missiles that were intended for Kyiv were falling all around us. Our missile defence system was clearly working effectively in preventing Russian missiles hitting the capital. The missile bombardment and air raids intensified from then on. The attacks were usually either at night or in the early hours of the morning. The air raid sirens were in Kyiv but here the siren was the hit or the missing of the target that was intended for Kyiv. During one hit, our house shook violently and our courtyard was showered with something very fine and metallic. Then on the 4th or 5th day some aviation bomb fell on our neighbour’s house. Everything was consumed by fire together with the neighbour himself. Then we were fired at with mortars by the Russian Occupying Forces. Sadly, another neighbour was killed from our cooperative.

Russian helicopters were flying over our valley, enemy helicopters K 50, K 52 and Mi 8. All of them were grey like the plague. They seemed so near one could almost touch them. And what was the most painful thing was there was no way of us reporting these enemy assaults as all communication networks had been wiped out. You can imagine our feeling of helplessness and anger. There are many words to describe these Orcs, and I am sure you can all imagine the strong four letter words that can be used.

The days got mixed up and the hours too. On the sixth day our home was utterly frozen. It was the middle of winter when temperatures can go as low as -10 degrees Celsius. We would switch on our generator only for one hour each day to cook food and try to keep us warm. When there were air raids, we slept in the basement with the temperature approximately 5 degrees Celsius. This lasted for seven days. We listed all our food rations on the piece of paper, including cat food. It was very difficult to calm down our 5-year-old child and to entertain him. He couldn’t understand what was going on. And then he started to guess.

The last four days, there were artillery battles with tanks and infantry. Presumably the missiles had run out. Aviation as well was a rare phenomenon. There was firing everywhere and from everywhere. It was not clear from whom or where. Civilians who tried to drive on the Zhytomyr motorway were shot dead.

My wife Kateryna was quite euphoric and elevated at the beginning. Then her cheerful mood melted away and became negative. Our son sensed it all and we did not see him smile for days. There was only apathy and complete indifference. But when our boy began to imitate the Kyiv air raid sirens and comment on the bomb explosions, I realized that something had to be done very urgently. I didn’t want my son to remember these war sounds, but of course it will stay with him.

All day long we had to wear warm outdoor clothes in case of an urgent need to run somewhere. It was heavy to wear something you would usually wear outdoors in winter. To sleep in those clothes. To live in those clothes day after day. And to get used to the unnatural sounds of exploding bombs and missiles was difficult particularly for our young son.

There were evacuation columns that were formed in the villages. Though actually this information seldom reached us as we were not from any of those villages but belonged to the dacha cooperative. As a result we did not leave.

During the last days of our dacha stay, we managed to contact friends from a historical reconstruction group who helped us to find volunteers. It was hard to start doing something. Having got together with neighbours with cars, we decided to wait for the volunteer guide who could lead us out. However, there was no connection with the volunteers for quite a long time. We were desperate and didn’t know what to do. Then very heavy shelling started all around us from tanks and artillery. The Orcs were attacking the military unit from every direction. While this hell that was going on, we made the decision to get in the cars and start moving away from the cooperative back to Kyiv.

I don’t know what route we took as our neighbours in their car were leading the way. Some kind of fields, some kind of crossings. There were broken power lines everywhere. Somewhere on the horizon, we could see black smoke. In one place, a Russian Armoured Patrol Car (APC) opened a merciless barrage on us. It was absolutely terrifying. We had to speed up. The main thing was to get as far away from Zhytomyr motorway as possible. We had white flags, with signs saying “Children”. We were moving slowly in a column. But the Russian Orcs couldn’t care less. We broke through. Alive. And finally back home in Kyiv.

In conclusion,

Famine is a terrible thing particularly if you have a 5-year-old child and have to explain that you have only what is in your hands to feed them, this is really painful.
I made a decision, important and adequate for that moment but I will always regret it. I thought we would be safe in our country dacha, which nearly turned out to be a fatal mistake.
I lost 5 kg.
My beloved wife has a new, enforced, hairstyle because of stress hair loss and no washing facilities. I am a pretty bad hairdresser.
I can distinguish by ear the fire from a tank, guns of different calibers, “Grad” rockets, aviation bombs and all the instruments of pain, suffering and death. The sounds of helicopters, all kinds of drones, bayraktars, aeroplanes as well as the direction of their flight.
When Pion guns are in action, the house shakes severely.
When Grad rockets are fired over the forest they set fire to the tops of the trees due to their reactive trace.
Adults occasionally behave like children. They are sometimes inadequate when they need to concentrate, to gather their courage and make the right quick decision.
Kyiv air raid sirens are not as scary as the debris that is falling on your head.
The suburbs in some cases are not as safe as a big city.
The main goal for civilians is not to hang around where you are not supposed to be and please don’t interfere with the work of our military to destroy the enemy. Listen to the air raid warnings. Stay in the bomb shelter. New iron will be forged and new bricks will be laid. But your life is precious. Nothing will substitute for it.
When we were leaving Kyiv, it was as if it was just starting awakening to defend itself. When we came back, Kyiv was a fortress.
It’s a pity that our neighbour Belarus, is so unconditionally supportive of Russia to destroy Ukraine and all our people. It appears that the majority of Belarussians tolerate this. They minimise and deny all the destruction and losses of civilians perpetrated by the Russian occupying forces.

Russia’s ongoing onslaught is sweeping everything away; no mercy, no green corridors, no supply of food and energy. That is evil incarnated. They are strong. They are liars, they are cunning, they are very dangerous. They don’t have God on their side as they claim, otherwise those things wouldn’t happen. They worship death, torture and destruction. They are thirsty for blood and to destroy Ukraine and its peaceful people.

We hold Russia responsible for every lost life, for every lost future! We will overcome!

All will be well with Ukraine!