Thank  canis_aureus for the collection of memoirs by Ukrainian artists, you can read them as well https://www.furaffinity.net/journal/10810409 , and I'll start with my own

So, I'll start briefly with 2013, the last year I traveled to Crimea before its occupation. I was a counselor at a children's camp. At that time, there was nothing in Crimea that could hint at the events to come, at least I thought so. Back then we spoke Russian and Ukrainian with the locals, and even I listened to the Crimean Tatar language (it's beautiful, although I don't understand it, but it sounds very beautiful) I promised a local elderly woman that I would come back next year, but unfortunately I could not fulfill my promise.

And then there was Euromaidan and the occupation of Crimea and parts of Luhansk and Donetsk regions. I was a student at the time, and I joined these events, even though it was scary. But it was necessary. Unfortunately, I cannot say that I participated in all the events that took place there. But I definitely remember the day when the pro-Russian authorities ordered to shoot people from the hotel called "Ukraine", and my parents' friends and others were killed.

And then the years of hybrid warfare... News, sometimes good, sometimes bad. Fear for my brother who was in the Illovaysk cauldron... and many, many things...

Until 24.02.22, when my mother (who never did this and usually spoke Russian at home) woke me up and said in Ukrainian so calmly "Airports are being bombed, the war has begun"...., my countdown began.

At first, I had one thought in my head: "So do I have to go to work or not?" It may sound funny, but you can't believe it at first. Then my father, who had gone to work in the morning, before the first military siren, came and said that everyone was turned back and asked to stay at home for now.

We immediately started thinking about what to do with food and supplies of essentials? Then we called everyone we knew to find out how they were doing. There was no panic in the stores, but people were buying basic necessities, and patrols appeared on the streets. And at this time you say, "It's okay, it's ours, the green ribbon, it's ours," because to go and see an armed man right in the store... is somehow... wildly unusual .

So the first day passed... the night... the first rockets that lit up the sky... we slept with our clothes on, just ran out into the corridor with wild speed, and then listened to the first explosions. The siren sounded later. The first casualties, the first damaged house in my town... (my friend's fish died because the windows in his house were smashed and the cladding was damaged) We decided to take my grandmother to us... she was old.

The following days are a blur...you are at the factory settings: you are functioning...but without emotions. As long as you have the opportunity, you go and help. Many people have left, but there are still many old people who could not be reached by their relatives or who were lonely. So my friends and I went to buy food for them until the shelves were empty. The city felt like it had died out, like an apocalypse, it was terrible. Imagine New York empty, that's how it was in Kyiv.

Bridges were blocked, the banks of the city were divided. We laughed with an acquaintance, gasoline remained on the right bank, food on the left...and think who is better.

So 2 weeks passed, I refused to eat (in my head I thought that I could only drink and not very much, because there is no toilet in the nearest shelter, I don’t know how it worked) then I lost 10 kg... and in my mind added a lot of gray hair...

That's how the first weeks passed...
Then there was the happy news that the russians had been expelled from Kyiv and the Kyiv region...and almost immediately news came from Buchi and Irpen about the horrors that were happening there.

You ask if I love russians and do I have friends there? So... in those days, I once again.. myself.. wrote to those whom I considered friends... and said... I am alive.. but it is very difficult for me.. I sit and cry.. reading news about people ... to which I received the answer "So what? these are some unknown people, it doesn't matter to us... well, I'm glad you're alive... but we have problems! I couldn't buy something there" I'm sorry, but I I don't remember what exactly was there... because after that I just blocked and deleted all chats with those people..

Then a year and a half later, one of them decided to write to me on FA without asking how and what I am? and immediately "you understand that not all russians are bad, I want to chat" ... but I didn't want to ... after everything.

Then the news is like a swing of good-bad, good-bad...
I don't want and won't write all this again, some I don't want to mention now, but I will say that a phone call has become one of my nightmares...especially when you don't expect it from anyone..because that call can mean anything whatever... whether good news or bad...

I wrote some events and news here, you can find them.

And now that it's been 2 years since the full-scale invasion, all I can say is that I'm so morally burned out that sometimes I seem unemotional. Almost everything has changed in life... 90% that's for sure... So little time has passed... and you are no longer the person you were before...

What has not changed: the desire to win, the belief in victory. But the desire to help protect one's country, one's home, one's family... although the family has become smaller... due to the death of relatives and loved ones.

Therefore, I just want to say thank you to everyone who supports the Ukrainians and helps bring our victory closer. Thank you to everyone who helps any countries that suffer from unjust wars of aggression! I believe in a better world, no matter how dark times are for many people right now...
I can't say that this journal is very informative, it's just a little bit of my thoughts and memories of the beginning... Because if I write everything... it will turn out to be a memoir of many, many pages..

So all I want to say is just thank you!
You can support the artists by following this link https://www.furaffinity.net/journal...../#jid:10802026
if you want you can support me on paypal gilzame[at]gmail.com or buy me a coffee https://www.buymeacoffee.com/liianate

Thanks for reading this thread, take care! And a safe and peaceful sky above your heads!