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other stories

Kherson — Vienna — Kyiv

When I first went to a Silpo supermarket in Kyiv, I started weeping. Tears were pouring down my face and my heart was crushing because I realised that people in Kherson didn't have that, that had been taken away from them.

Oleksandra Knyha, 36 years old Oleksandra Knyha, 36 years old
Oleksandra Knyha, 36 years old

Druzhkivka — Mariupol — Ivano-Frankivsk

Around March 1, the lights were out, and on March 3, the gas was cut off. We tried to evacuate, but we were turned back, we were told that there was fighting outside the city. We didn't even make it to any of the checkpoints, people were telling each other: "They won't let us out, they won't let us out.”

Daria Zarovna, 22 years old Daria Zarovna, 22 years old
Daria Zarovna, 22 years old

Alushta — Kharkiv — Horishni Plavni — Kharkiv

I realized that my wife is almost at the epicentre of the explosions. I rushed to her. At that point, the Grad multiple rocket launcher systems started firing. Tree branches were flying over us. Shells exploded some 50-60 meters away. Shell-shocked by the explosions, birds fall to the ground. I knew then that I was running towards my death.

Dmytro Yurchenko, 27 years old Dmytro Yurchenko, 27 years old
Dmytro Yurchenko, 27 years old

Donetsk — Zaporizhzhia — Dnipro — Kharkiv — Chernivtsi

After I left Donetsk, people often ask me where I am from. I am from Kharkiv, Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Torez. Now I can probably call Kharkiv my home.
Serhii Boichenko, 37 years old Serhii Boichenko, 37 years old
Serhii Boichenko, 37 years old

Pokrovsk (Donetsk region) — Krasnodar — Sochi — Pokrovsk — Kharkiv — Smela (Cherkasy region)

I was 10 when the war started. In the spring of 2014, strange people started appearing in my hometown and in the region. They started promoting the idea of independence from Kyiv. They said that there had been a military coup there and that we would face the same danger of being killed for speaking Russian.

Maksym Hrinchenko, 18 years old Maksym Hrinchenko, 18 years old
Maksym Hrinchenko, 18 years old

Bakhchysarai — Poltava

We have everything to make our city and our country better. Because we know how to think and how to do things. The difference is that the initiative comes from below, here it's us who's evolving, while in Crimea the initiative comes from above, from the state, making people passive.

Natalia Barannyk, 28 years old Natalia Barannyk, 28 years old
Natalia Barannyk, 28 years old

Kharkiv — Lviv

Since I have realized that I lost Mariupol, I don't miss Kharkiv. And I have also realized what roots mean. You can dislike the city where you were born, but the roots still give you their impulses. And you will never confuse what you have lost when you lose it.

Kateryna Herasechkina, 32 years old Kateryna Herasechkina, 32 years old
Kateryna Herasechkina, 32 years old

Kharkiv — Ternopil

The decision to leave was a hard one for me because there were a lot of children in the bomb shelter, and a lot of people who were frightened. Patrick, as a psychologist dog and anti-stress dog, was the one who calmed them down. So when I took him away, I realized that I was depriving children who psychologically needed the help of this truly healing contact with an animal.

Olga Ivanova, 41 years old Olga Ivanova, 41 years old
Olga Ivanova, 41 years old

Donetsk — Kharkiv — Kramatorsk — Lviv — Kyiv

At that time, I hoped that I was leaving temporarily, but already in the winter of 2014 it became clear that was not the case. The need to leave everything in Donetsk was also motivated by the fact that I worked in a library for children there. So I knew that I would be required to propagate the pro-Russian ideology to children. And that was unacceptable to me.
Darya Zorina, 33 years old Darya Zorina, 33 years old
Darya Zorina, 33 years old