Hi all!
Today is exactly two years since the war began in Ukraine, and one person who has been helping us a lot throughout this time asked me to tell people about my memories, how it was, how it all began and how I lived all this time.

To tell the truth, it is very difficult for me to talk about it, think and remember.
If you are impressionable, then you probably shouldn’t read this.


It all started on February 24, exactly two years ago.
My boyfriend stayed overnight with me for the first time, since my father had gone on a business trip the day before, and my mother offered us this opportunity. I was very glad. We spent the whole evening watching movies, playing cyberpunk, and I thought that this would be my best evening in a long time, but I was very mistaken.
When I had already gone to bed, around 5 in the morning, my close friend from Kyiv called me in tears and started talking about what was happening in her city, I didn’t even understand what she was talking about, since I was very sleepy.I looked up at my boyfriend who was still at the computer, he looked at me and said "Wake up, the war has begun"
I couldn't believe it, I started watching news on different news channels. 10 minutes later my mother woke up and we went out into our yard. Right at that moment, the first rocket that was fired at my city flew over us.
We quickly began to collect things, documents and medicines into bags.
Every half hour we read the news that villages near our city were occupied one after another, and we simply counted the time when this would happen to my city, Kherson. We had nowhere to run and we were not ready for it. We couldn’t get through to my father, who had left the evening of the previous day, and we were very panicked.
The Russian military quickly reached our city and fierce fighting began. We saw and heard all this, my house was on the outskirts of the city, on the other side from where the Russian tanks were driving, and we just sat in the corner of the room and waited for who knows what.
By the evening of that day, my father was able to return home, and we just hung around at home, since we had no bomb shelters nearby.
Soon the Russian military captured our city, and the Ukrainian military was withdrawn from the territory of Kherson.

Thus began the long and painful months of life under occupation. Without communication, light, water and money.

On the second day of the war, Russian tanks were already standing in the middle of the city, and many people took up arms and went to fight on their own, since no one else could help us. More than 200 people were killed in the first days ,were shot from tanks in the city center, many went missing.
My friend was also reported missing. Her mother organized a search, but I was forbidden to leave the house, since there were Russian soldiers everywhere who completely controlled the city and killed everyone who disagreed with this.
After two days of searching, a car was found in which my friend, along with two other people, tried to leave the city. A day later, her mutilated body was discovered with signs of sexual assault.
Even later, I lost many of my friends and relatives.
The only thing that calmed me at that time was that my parents and boyfriend were with me and were okay.
In this chaos, many months dragged on, and every day there were battles for my city. With the time, we stopped sitting in the corner on the floor and waking up from explosions. We just lived these days as best we could.

One day, one of my friends came to my house and said that he was going to leave the city by bus and was going to Poland, and he suggested this to my family. My mother immediately said that my boyfriend and I should leave the country. I didn’t have any money for this, since a bus ticket for one person costs $500. But thanks to your help, I was quickly able to collect this money and within two days my journey began from Kherson-Russia-Latvia-Lithuania-Poland. We were on the road for three days and went through a lot of different crap that we encountered along the way. Since the Russian military did not allow anyone into the territory of Ukraine, we were forced to travel through Russia.A year after the war began, my house was damaged due to a missile hit too close, and my father still lives there with my sick dog.


From the very day I left my city, I began to experience severe depression. I could no longer sleep or eat and was forced to take a break from drawing for some time. My life in Poland was... it just was. I barely left the house, and spent a lot of time in bed while my boyfriend worked to provide us with a dorm room and food. I faced many problems in Poland and understood that this country was completely unsuitable for me. In those moments when I felt better, I began to draw, and gradually I was able to save a small amount of money to move to the Netherlands. I arrived here in December 2023 and my life has gotten better. Really better. I am gradually coping with my depression, although I still have days when I cannot bring myself to communicate with people, get out of bed, or do anything. But now these are only days, not long months.

Thank you for reading this. I hope the nightmare with which I fought all this time will never happen to anyone again. War is terrible, and this should not exist in the world today. I just hope this ends as soon as possible and never happens to anyone, anywhere in the world again.