Hanna (31) and Tetiana (27) were born into a Russian-speaking family in Donetsk and grew up in Donbas. They were educated and were going to build their lives there. In the summer of 2014, after Donetsk had been occupied by the Russian forces, Hanna and her future husband moved to Kyiv. She also began speaking Ukrainian to emphasize her Ukrainian identity. A few years later, her sister Tetiana, who by that time was studying at university, moved to Kharkiv.
Before the onset of the current, full-scale Russian war against Ukraine, Hanna worked in retail with Ukrainian designers. She and her husband rented an apartment together in Irpin. The town reminded them of Donetsk, though it didn’t feel quite like home. “We lived in our apartment for 6 years and bought almost nothing there but essentials, as it felt like this house was temporary”, Hanna says.
In Kharkiv, Tetiana worked as a manager in a small IT company. On February 24, she woke up to explosions, reminding her of Donetsk in 2014. She was afraid to leave the city, so for the next 6 days, Tetiana hid from the constant shelling in her apartment and the local bomb shelter. The situation was getting worse, so a friend helped her escape to Dnipro. There, she took the evacuation train to Lviv, and then to Przemyśl. The journey took almost three days.
Meanwhile, in Irpin Hanna’s family spent 7 days hiding from the bombings in a shelter next door. “We taught our two-year-old daughter a game: when a plane flies by, she has to come up to me, close her ears and open her mouth. Planes flew over us towards Hostomel. We heard explosions. It was scary. My husband and I were exhausted, but we tried to be as calm as possible to comfort her and follow our usual routine”, she says.
"There were 130 people in the shelter. We had toilets, insulation, and water. My husband and I slept on deck chairs that our neighbour lent us. We brought all the warm blankets we had at home. People took turns cooking, we shared food, and took care of children and puppies together. We listened to the news on a small radio receiver and went outside to breathe and connect to the internet. We even celebrated a birthday”, Hanna says.
Two sisters remained in touch constantly. On the 8th day of the war, when Tetiana was on her way to Lviv, Hanna's family and their neighbours drove away in an evacuation column. There were 7 people in a car, a dog and 4 puppies. To avoid bombing, they took detours. Road signs were removed for safety reasons. There were also no lights. The road to a safe place took them 12 hours.
"Before the new year, my husband and I agreed that should war break out he would remain to defend our country, and I should keep our child safe. It took me a while to accept his choice”, Hanna says. She and her daughter Agata went abroad, while Hanna's husband, Denis, is now volunteering in the army.
Hanna doesn't compare her current experience with what she went through back in 2014. “I understood what could happen: what products we should buy to have enough food, which part of the street is safer, how to behave during the shelling. This understanding gave me some confidence.”
After the Russian invasion of Donbas in 2014, Tetiana has no illusions that she will return home soon. “That time, I was able to remain in Ukraine, but now I don't feel safe in my home anymore”, she says. Hanna and Tetiana’s parents remain on the territory that is not controlled by Ukraine. For now, it is impossible for them to leave.
