At 5:00 a.m. local time on February 24, Russia suddenly attacked Ukraine. Subsequently, explosions were heard in kiev, Odessa, Kharkiv and other cities in the capital of Ukraine, and many military installations were destroyed. Ukrainian President Zelenskiy declared that the country had entered a wartime state.
On Feb. 25, the United Nations said at least 127 civilian casualties, including 25 killed in shelling and airstrikes, and 102 wounded.
A large number of people were in a panic. Some people cried silently on the phone, some asked the Chinese if they could evacuate with them; some hid in the subway passage, and some tried to drive away.
We contacted a number of people in Ukraine. The local communications network was extensively damaged, and with occasional artillery fire, our communication was interrupted from time to time, sometimes because the network was stuck, and sometimes hiding in the air raid shelter. Through their encounters and perspectives, we can see what kind of fate and suffering an ordinary person will face under the war.
Text | Xu Qing Zhou Xinyu Zhong Yixuan Yi Fangxing Wu Yuchen Lu Yan
Edit | Zhou Wei Zhao Lei Jin Za
Operational | Painted fireflies
Gu Chao, 41 years old, study abroad agent: I received many phone calls that could not be silenced
At 3:00 a.m. on February 23rd, we received a notice from the Chinese Consulate: Now that we have entered an extraordinary situation, please prepare supplies and wait for the news of the consulate at home. That night, I stayed up at home all night.
Domestic news kept coming, my parents called me 5 times, and relatives and friends were also asking about my safety. The number of WeChat group chats has surged with the fermentation of the situation in Russia and Ukraine: not only the Chinese, but also the Chinese consulates, and the Chamber of Commerce. We exchanged ideas on it, shared supermarkets, supplies, and avoided difficulties.
I had never imagined that war would come so soon. After 6 years of study abroad consulting in Ukraine, this place made me feel calm and settled. Even the most recent crisis I've had — the civil unrest during former President Petro Poroshenko's administration in 2019 — I've only heard from the consulate that during the month-long martial law period, try to avoid going out.
So I didn't care about the gossip about the war this year. On January 30, Ukrainian President Selenskiy also accused the United States of causing panic about a Russian invasion of Ukraine. Even the day before the Russians entered the country, my friend and I were still at work. I processed three applications from domestic study abroad institutions and translated them from Chinese into Ukrainian. At 4 p.m., on the way home, I also saw the parents who picked up and dropped off their children, and the restaurant that was open as usual. The days were calm, and I was convinced of this until I received a warning from the consulate in the early morning of the 23rd.
The first cannons in Kiev arrived on the morning of the 24th. I judged from the volume that the accident was not close. A few minutes later, I learned in the group of the location of the explosion — Borispol Airport, twenty or thirty kilometers from my home, the largest airport in Ukraine.
My friend and I judged it: Run away. Our destination is Lviv in western Ukraine, a safe city bordering Poland. As soon as we left the house, however, the traffic situation in Kiev dumbfounded: the convoys heading west were jammed in the city center, showing no sign of progress for a few minutes.
On the way home, we went to the supermarket. It was the biggest one in the center of Kiev, with a long queue. The most pressing is bottled water, we came a step late, the shelves have been swept away. Fortunately, there were not many people in the small supermarket near my home, where I moved 20 barrels of 5 liters of water, and half a month's light meal, which cost a total of 1400 hryvnia, equivalent to about 300 yuan.
Fortunately, the prices of daily necessities have not been raised or robbed because of the war. Kiev is still a calm city, and there are not many people on the road except for the cars heading west. Only the changing exchange rate reminds me that the place is suffering from some twists and turns – from the 22nd to the 24th, the Ukrainian currency, the hryvnia, fell from 0.4 to 0.2 against the renminbi.
At 2:05 p.m. on the 24th, I experienced the nearest explosion to me. I was in the yard trying to figure out how to move 20 buckets of water into the house. There was a loud bang that made me explode. Unlike the morning, the explosion was so clear that it made my heart tremble a few times. There was a scratch in the sky that an unknown shell had flown by, and I felt that the scene of the incident was nearby.
After hurriedly withdrawing from the house, I received a call from a local Ukrainian friend. This 23-year-old has known me for 4 years and has been helping me with study abroad related matters. After the war began, his parents planned to flee to Denmark. At that time, almost all foreign consulates were withdrawn from Ukraine, leaving only the Chinese consulates still functioning. The young man felt it was safer to follow Chinese.
He cried on the phone and asked me: "Brother, is there a flight that can take our family to China?" "I can't give him an answer, any arbitrary judgment may endanger the safety of the young man's family." Many of my Ukrainian friends around me broke down, and I received many phone calls that I couldn't cry.
The reality is very cruel, the rich people have already chartered planes and chartered cars to flee Ukraine, and the rest are ordinary people whose fate is uncertain. The Ukrainian government was paralyzed, and I helped a friend call a hotline that showed no one answering. The network is also intermittent, and every once in a while, my WeChat can brush out 999+ unread messages. The phone number of the Chinese consulate has also been busy, not only the local Chinese, but also relatives and friends in China are also calling to ask for accurate information.
On the evening of the 24th, the news of the consulate finally came, and the state was ready to evacuate overseas Chinese. I immediately submitted my application – I have not been able to return home for 3 years because of the epidemic. Just last week, I had just recovered from an Infection of Omikeron. This time back, I plan to spend time with my parents.
I filled my car with gas and left two buckets of water and some dry food in my seat—I was going to entrust the car to a Chinese friend. His wife and children were Ukrainians and could not return with us during the evacuation, so he chose to stay with his wife and daughter. I left the car to him, not knowing what year and month it would be the next time we met.
▲ Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, people take shelter in subway stations. Photo / Visual China
Aqian, a junior, kiev State Linguistic University in exchange: our mobile phone positioning changed from Ukraine to Russia
Because of our long-term attention to the news, we have long been mentally prepared for war, but we did not expect that the situation would change so directly and rapidly.
At 6:15 a.m. on the morning of Feb. 24, the distant bombardment finally subsided, and phone messages from family and friends kept coming from home. After sending a circle of friends to report that it was safe, my roommate and I posted a five- or six-minute stay by the window, and then we received a notice from the volunteers of the International Student Union of my school, and he wanted to count the personal information of all international students.
At this time, we began to have a bottom, at least we knew that once the overseas Chinese were evacuated, the preliminary preparations had gradually been sufficient.
I came to Kiev last September because of the school's exchange program and have long since adapted to the rhythm of life here. On the evening of the 23rd, I was still thinking before going to bed, the homework did not seem to be done enough, and I planned to get up early the next day to improve it. When I opened my eyes again, I was woken up by the alarm, and it was still dark outside the window.
Surrounded by bombings around the airport, Turkish classmates sat on the first floor with sad faces, saying he had planned to return home this morning. At that time, my head was stuck with information, because the flight was circuitized, and we couldn't even buy a plane ticket to go to another country.
At 7:00, we found aunt dormitory, who told us that we were ready to move to a nearby air raid shelter at any time. We returned to the room and quickly packed our necessities. The senior who lived downstairs called and asked us not to go out and stock up on supplies. Luckily I had the foresight and plenty of food and water etc.
But some of the other Chinese students in the same class are not as well-stocked as we are. Recently, the supermarket has been lined up outside the door, and the bank next door has been crowded with locals withdrawing cash – bank cards have expired, and each supermarket accepts only the most traditional paper money. My classmate went out at 6:30 in the morning, and an hour later, he finally squeezed out of the supermarket with two bags of rice.
▲ Ukrainians lined up to withdraw money. Photo / Visual China
At 8:00, ten minutes before class, the teacher told us the news of the suspension. She was calm, told us to be safe, and, not to forget to study, she also had to check her homework. The dorm radio rang again, this time by the voice of a boy, who sounded relaxed, and told us that it was all right for the time being, that it was better to stay in the dormitory, and that if we heard the alarm, we would run to the basement.
I went back to my dorm, packed my bags for nearly an hour, and replied to the messages I received. Last month, my family sent me a few packets of snail powder, which became lunch for my roommate and me.
By 9:00, almost all Ukrainian students had left the dormitory with large bags and small bags. Their parents were waiting at the door, and the car didn't turn off.
My best Ukrainian friend is a girl named Manhua. She studied at the Confucius Institute for 4 years Chinese and can communicate with me fluently. The last time I met her was on the eve of the Spring Festival, and when she learned that I was going on a trip to Lviv, she happily recommended a few coffee shops to me that she liked. Before leaving, the news of the deterioration of Russian-Ukrainian relations came unexpectedly, and I hesitated to cancel the trip, but she comforted me and said that it was okay, there was often such news, and the Ukrainian locals were somewhat accustomed to it.
At 11:00 noon on the 24th, I also received a message from the teacher: "Dear students, I am in Kiev, tonight, we make up lessons, have you finished your homework?" ”
At 14:00 on the afternoon of the 24th, when the roommate logged in to the temperature reporting software with his mobile phone, the location changed from Ukraine to Russia.
I had also made an appointment with some Ukrainian friends at the Confucius Institute for afternoon tea on the 25th. But in the early morning of the 24th, a few minutes after the shells crossed the night sky, a Ukrainian boy sent me a message saying that they were going to take refuge in the suburbs of Kiev, so we must pay attention to safety, go to the bomb shelter once there is an air raid, and hope that if China has a plan to evacuate its overseas Chinese, we must tell him.
Just now, he sent me a message: "Everything is fine with my family! We are all safe, and now that matters most! ”
Kiev is being bombed, and a couple is going to Ukraine to pick up the surrogate child: DD, post-90s, business manager of Junyu Travel Agency
Around 2018, I went to Kiev, Ukraine, with a few friends to open a travel agency, and the customers included tour groups, international students, people working in Ukraine, and Chinese couples who went to Ukraine for surrogacy. In Ukraine, this is a relatively stable industry, with thousands of couples going to surrogacy every year.
I returned to China half a year ago and did not encounter a war. On February 24, I saw the news that Kiev had been attacked, that explosions could be heard in many places, that many people had taken refuge in bomb shelters, or had fled from Kiev to cities on the western side of Ukraine.
Suddenly, a couple told me that they wanted to go to Kiev to pick up their surrogate child.
The couple went to Ukraine last year to conceive and went there twice. The expected date of the child's delivery is the end of March. According to Ukrainian law, both parents must be in Ukraine to get a birth certificate for the child, which means that the parents must go together to pick up the child.
The wife may have been afraid of an accident and wanted to give birth to her child a little earlier and then take her home. It is also possible that it took many years to have a child in this way, and I want to go over the first time and watch the child be born.
Hearing her say that she was going to Kiev at this time, I was scared to death and quickly persuaded her to return the ticket. She was particularly anxious and asked me when I would be able to pass if I refunded my ticket this time. I said it should be about April or May, when the air ticket must be very expensive, almost twenty or thirty thousand. Or just a little later, wait until the price is cheaper.
Her family does not seem to be very rich, the surrogate mother and child need nursing staff in the hospital to take care of, a month of nursing fees and other costs are more than 30,000, 3 months is 90,000, she feels that spending this money is not as good as buying expensive air tickets, long pain is not as good as short pain, must go now.
That day, I persuaded her for a full 3 hours before she was willing to return the ticket. Later, I called her again to ask her how she was doing, and when the follow-up flight wanted to be changed, and she had already had an emotional breakdown and would not answer my call. I have also contacted her lover, but the other party also has a feeling of impatience. I think that after she is in a better mood, take the initiative to contact me, and see how to solve it.
I actually didn't expect to be able to encounter such a big thing by opening a small travel agency. There are a lot of Chinese in this part of Ukraine, and I remember my first trip to Kiev, where there are Chinese supermarkets. Every summer, many Chinese tourists come here, and the more famous attractions are Independence Square and the War Memorial. There are also parks with tanks left over from the 1941 War in Kiev. On weekends, there are many people, and you have to queue up to get in.
Prices in Ukraine are very cheap, beef, pork prices are particularly low, house prices are also, Kiev is far from the city center, a house as long as 500,000 yuan.
Our travel agency has two employees, both young girls, who have brought their families over after a few years of work, but now the two girls and their families are still in Kiev. I told them that the phone should be fully charged, and that the things that should be prepared should be prepared and that they should go to the supermarket to buy food and water. There is also to go to the embassy to register, evacuate overseas Chinese back to China, and the information of the charter flight must be filled in.
The epidemic in Ukraine is quite serious, kiev added 3699 cases on the 23rd, so on the 24th, they stayed at home all day and night, did not go to the subway station or bomb shelter, afraid of the new crown infection. Going out is dangerous, at home is also dangerous, Kiev and Beijing have a 6-hour time difference, I sent them a message at 10 a.m. in China, equivalent to 4 or 5 a.m. on their side, the messages are seconds back, indicating that they have not slept all night. But who can sleep in the sound of gunfire?
These days The airports in Ukraine are closed, the planes are grounded, fortunately, the weather is relatively cold now, it is the tourist off-season, there are not many tourists, so only a dozen tickets have been refunded. The last wave of returnees was a flight from Kiev to Xiamen on the 22nd. There is an international student who bought a ticket for the 27th, but he was a few days away, and he could not come back, and now he is waiting to evacuate the overseas Chinese.
▲ Ukrainians have fled Kiev. Photo / Visual China
Xiaoya, 23 years old, graduate student of musicology at Kiev State Pedagogical University: After the new crown infection, I experienced another war
It couldn't be more apt to describe my experience in Ukraine.
Last September, with a dream of music, I came to the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Ukraine to pursue a master's degree. But fate tricked people, and soon after, my tutor suddenly resigned from the Chai Academy, and I had to leave together and become a student of Kiev State Pedagogical University. The twists and turns didn't stop, and I couldn't have imagined that I would be infected with the new crown here, and I would hear the constant explosions...
The signal of war began when the exchange rate of the US dollar changed from 1:25 to 1:50. Even though I hoarded some supplies with a half-hearted attitude, I never dared or believed that the war would start.
On the 24th, the explosion at 5:30 a.m. woke me up from my sleep. An hour later, it rang again, and by ten o'clock in the evening, it sounded eight times in total. Since then, I haven't closed my eyes, I don't dare to sleep, I can't sleep. Just when I was on alert to the situation outside, at about 10:30 p.m., I suddenly heard someone trying to pry open the door of my house, and he tried twice, and the door creaked. I hid in my room, holding my breath, and called my dad's friend in the area, and after explaining the situation, he asked me to keep in touch, and if needed, he would rush over immediately.
It wasn't until the sound of the door had stopped that I dared to take the candle and observe the situation outside through the cat's eye, and found that the other party had left, and it was pitch black around. This scented candle was bought before the war to create a living atmosphere, but at this moment, I am very grateful for this candle. At that time, the mayor of Kiev issued a curfew notice, from ten o'clock in the evening to seven o'clock in the morning, everyone can not go out, and reminded us not to turn on the lights after ten o'clock in the evening, so as not to cause unnecessary trouble. Originally I didn't know anything about the "unnecessary hassle" mentioned in the notice, but now, I do.
The next morning, the embassy advised Chinese students to find the nearest subway or shelter. Next to my house is a subway station, after receiving the notice, I did not think too much, the bag was not back, only brought a mobile phone, to understand the situation of the subway station. Unexpectedly, I met a Ukrainian man of about 30 years old, who was emotional and said a paragraph to the effect that I was a spy sent by the Russian army, preparing to videotape their location, although I explained, turned to leave, but he continued to follow me. Panic took hold of my mind—I ran haphazardly into an underground passageway and, finally, dumped him around the corner.
The neighborhood where I lived, only I was a Chinese, the whole building was very empty, only less than five families stayed, and everyone went to the bomb shelter to take refuge. There is an air raid shelter every five minutes in my neighborhood, which used to be a "hole", but now it is overcrowded. Many people drag their families with their mouths and carry large bags to the air raid shelter, almost everyone will carry a yoga mat for sleeping, and some elderly people are too heavy to carry, stop and go. I watched from the window as they stooped and ran around with their bags, like a herd of ants with no place to live. But the day before the explosion, it was still very lively, on the road, the old man was walking the dog, the child was playing a game, and the young couple was in love.
But few Chinese choose to go to the bomb shelter for refuge, on the one hand, there is no signal, on the other hand, the air raid shelter is densely populated, and the probability of infection with the new crown is very large. The epidemic prevention and control in Ukraine is not strict, and locals regard the new crown as a small cold, and only wear masks when taking the subway and bus. I was also infected with the new crown, it was in October last year, after reporting to the embassy, they very kindly sent me a box of lotus plague capsules, when I came to Ukraine I also brought two boxes of amoxicillin, a week later, I was cured.
The epidemic was not over, the war was rising again, and I experienced this twist and turn of fate, in my father's words, "the people who have seen the big scenes."
Not only did the explosions force people to move out of their homes, prices also began to rise. Half a month ago, milk was only 80 grams, equivalent to about 20 yuan, and a week later, the price number became 90 grams, and just two days ago, it rose by 4 grams. What's more, my study plan was also disrupted, and the courses ranged from online classes to complete suspensions, and the group of students no longer discussed learning and homework, but updated every second of the battle situation information. Chinese students in Ukraine have also begun to "hug the group for warmth", and I was invited to enter a "Shandong student group" where everyone exchanged information.
At 7:30 p.m. on the 24th, there was finally good news, the Embassy's WeChat public released the information on the evacuation of overseas Chinese, and the group of international students was full of joy, I quickly filled in my personal information, and the original panic was alleviated. But on second thought, what should my Ukrainian friends do?
On the 24th, a local classmate called me to tell me about her fear, and on the other end of the phone, she cried badly. I remember when I was in elementary school, my teacher told us that world peace is the theme of our time. But now, what's wrong with the world? Why did it get to this point? I don't understand.
▲ In the group of international students, everyone huddled together for warmth. Figure / Courtesy of the interviewee
Walker, post-80s, study abroad agent: I don't want to go, I want to stay here
I am in Kramatorsk, Donetsk Oblast, donbass region of eastern Ukraine.
This is arguably the most dangerous, for many years it has been the region with the sharpest contradictions between Ukraine and Russia, where the two independent republics are located.
On February 19, I left this place to meet a friend who had just come to Ukraine. Unexpectedly, on February 22, that night, Putin signed a presidential decree recognizing the Doneesk People's Republic and the Luhansk People's Republic as independent countries, and then the contradictions began to escalate.
On February 22, I happened to be in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. On the bus, I saw many local people protesting to the Russian Embassy in Ukraine, so I got off the bus and went to see it for a while. Two or three hundred people protested, and they planted 6 tombstones in front of the embassy, and then they said, "Welcome to hell."
▲ Photo / Courtesy of the interviewee
In the past, such demonstrations were often held in Ukraine, which was relatively common. It was a way for the locals to express their demands, but they didn't realize that they would fight so quickly.
By the 23rd, I took the train at 6 a.m. and went back to Donbass, arriving at 1 p.m. When I came back, it was calm and normal, and the Ukrainians in Donbass were still feeding pigeons, walking dogs and ducks in the park. Spring is here, the weather is good, and people here like to come out for a walk.
Then there was the 24th day when the war began. At 5 a.m., I was still sleeping, and many people in the local area were sleeping, when suddenly I was awakened by a loud noise outside. At that time, I didn't know what the situation was, and when I looked at the window, I couldn't see anything.
My first reaction at that time was to send a circle of friends: "I suddenly heard a loud noise!" Exceptionally loud sounds! The ground shook a little, is this a cannon? What's the situation? "Posted at 5:07 a.m.
Soon, friends at home, friends in Kiev, Ukraine, were sending messages to each other that there had been an explosion in Kiev.
Donbass is a place very special in Ukraine, located in the east of Ukraine, with an area of about 60,000 square kilometers, also known as the Ukrainian Carboniferous coalfields, and is also an important industrial base in Ukraine. Pro-European and pro-Russian factions are confronted here, with perennial skirmishes. Locals have been a little numb to the sound of explosions for years.
At present, the anti-Ukrainian civilian armed forces in the Donbass region account for about 1/3, and the remaining 2/3 are in the Ukrainian-controlled area. The place where I live belongs to the U-controlled area. 4 km from where I live, there are Ukrainian S300 anti-aircraft missiles deployed, and the explosion I heard at 5 a.m. was that the anti-aircraft missile base was bombed.
Fortunately, in the disputed area of Donbass, Ukraine and Russia have been deploying heavy troops for many years, so when Russia came to fight, it chose to bypass from the weak places in the south to attack. What used to be the most dangerous place for me is now the safest place to be.
War is coming, and the days will pass. But panic was spreading, especially in a big city like Kiev, and I told me that I was hiding in the subway tunnels. A Ukrainian girl I knew locally told me that she was crying a lot.
I didn't expect that either. I have been in eastern Ukraine since 2014 to do some study abroad related services. I was also curious about what the people living in this conflict zone would look like. After arriving here, I liked it here, there are many parks here, in the vast and sparsely populated Great Plains of Eastern Europe, everything is pristine, very different from China. I especially like to go for walks and feed the pigeons here, the locals love life and often like to barbecue in the park.
But these two days, it feels different, the road is stuck in traffic, and locals start to line up to grab shopping. At present, the price of things has not increased, and I have also bought rice, bread, and water.
People want to escape here, but where can they flee? So I can only stay at home. Donbass, now it is estimated that I have a Chinese live here. In the past two days, the Chinese Embassy has begun to register the number of returnees, and the Embassy wants to charter a plane to send us back.
But I don't want to go, I'm going to stay here.
▲ Before the outbreak of war, walkers often went to the park where the ducks were fed. Figure / Courtesy of the interviewee
Jia Wei, post-80s, amber wax ore merchant: We were surrounded by a group of Ukrainians, asking if we were spies
With a loud noise, smoke began to rise somewhere in the air, and the fire fell like a meteor from a height of several hundred meters, which was the direction of the city of Kiev. I glanced down at my phone, and it was more than 5 a.m. on Feb. 25. Worried about the situation, I had not slept the night before, and when I was groggy, I was suddenly awakened by the sound of explosions.
When I opened the curtains, I saw a scene like that, I don't think I'll ever forget in my life, the light of the fire reflecting the whole sky into an eerie yellow. The early morning is very quiet, and the anti-theft alarm of all vehicles on the ground of the community is sounding at the same time, very loud, very noisy, and very scary.
I live in Kiev Oblast, about 15 kilometers from the city, and at about 6:30, a building in the distance was on fire, and I don't know whether it was an office building or a residential area that caught fire. Friends in the city sent a clearer video, and I guess it should be a fire caused by a falling fire after the destruction of the aircraft or the explosion of the missile. My family and I immediately decided to leave the place in a hurry, hurriedly packed some luggage, and brought some food we had bought from the supermarket the day before.
▲ An explosion jiawei saw at more than 5 a.m. on February 25. Figure / Courtesy of the interviewee
Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine on the 24th, whether it is a large supermarket or a small shop, there has been a long queue at the door, but everyone's order is OK, and there is no expected rush to buy. I arrived late that day, and the drinks and drinks on the store shelves were still there. There are very few people in the city, as are the subway stations, and a small number of people with backpacks and even rolls are lying on the benches of the subway station, not ready to go.
These Russian-style buildings, including the subway, are built very deeply, like an air raid shelter tens of meters underground, which can be used as a place to escape disasters for the time being.
After the explosion, many of my friends told me that they had arrived in Lviv (a city in western Ukraine) and told me a message that we Chinese could leave Lviv for Poland or Hungary. At that time, I had already seen in the Chinese crowd that some domestic enterprises in Ukraine had begun to organize the evacuation of employees and their families. I don't really know where to go next, but I don't think I can stay at home in Kiev anymore. As for whether to leave the country or not, I plan to go to Lviv first and then depend on the situation, after all, I still have business in Kiev and a house.
On the 25th, before 8 o'clock, we hurriedly began our flight westward. We were crammed into a car with limited space and only some water and food, after all, it was shelter and could not bring much. The road is very congested, a large number of people leave Kiev, are running west, the highway has been jammed to the point of explosion, many people even take the form of hiking, with backpacks, suitcases, trying to get out of Kiev.
When passing the gas station, there are cars all the way, everyone is worried that they will not be able to refuel later, piled up at the gas station and waiting, even the high-speed emergency lane is full of cars. At this time, there are no rules to talk about. We drove slowly, passing by the locals who got off the bus, the expressions were very complicated, after all, people are an independent country, and now they are abandoning their families and businesses, what good mood can they have.
On the highway, we passed by Zhytomyr, wooden stakes fell on the road, cranes hoisting cement and white sandbags, it is estimated that some land fortifications would be built here, and soldiers with guns on the side of the road stood next to them, patrolling around.
All the way to the west, it was clear that the inspection was getting more and more stringent. Halfway through, we were forced to stop temporarily, and the military police with guns stood outside the car and asked us to show our documents before we were released. This signal is not very good, most of the signal base stations are destroyed, basically can not make a complete phone call.
▲ Military police officers with guns stand outside the car and ask passers-by to show their id. Figure / Courtesy of the interviewee
Forget it, I've been in Ukraine for 5 years. At first, it was the family who came into contact with the amber wax ore, which was only available in Ukraine and Russia. Later, I also joined the industry, purchasing amber wax in Ukraine, shipping it to China, processing it into jewelry or handicrafts, and selling it in Shenzhen.
My wife and children are in Shenzhen and they are very worried about me now. In fact, I have not been home for more than a year, the epidemic is serious, the ticket is very difficult to buy, there are few flights back home, and now I don't know what to do. I have submitted the registration information for the number of evacuations counted by the Embassy and am still waiting for notification.
But we didn't decide to go west in the end because it was too late, the road to the west was closed, and by the time we arrived in Rivne in the afternoon, the alarm had been raised and all the vehicles were stopped at the intersection.
We were forced to turn east and return to Zhytomyr. It is now 10 p.m. Ukrainian time on the 25th, and after a full day of circling, it is back to this place, which is only 130 kilometers from Kiev. Everything was unplanned, many hotels in Zhytomyr were no longer open to the public, we finally made an appointment to a homestay, only to be stopped by the owner of the homestay, the Ukrainian called a lot of young people, surrounded us, and asked us if we were spies. It's easy to say a lot of explanations, and finally resolve.
If all goes well, we should be on the highway continuing west. But now it's impossible to go to Lviv, we just want to find a place to sleep.
Oh, 22 years old, international student: we should be at the beach
I'm in Odessa. On February 23rd, I drank a little too much coffee, and I had insomnia that night and lay in bed without falling asleep.
Around 5 a.m., I began to hear explosions in the distance. The first time I heard that sound, there was no reaction at all that it might be a bomb. Could it be a drill? Because I heard the senior say before, sometimes in the middle of the night in Odessa can hear the distant cannon, don't worry, it's just a drill. But after about 10 minutes, there were several noises in the distance, and on several occasions, after the cannon sounded, my bed would also shake slightly.
I pulled out my phone and looked at our group of international students, and someone said, "Something's wrong." ”
I reacted at this time, it should be a problem. I went to the news right away, and Putin had already made a national speech announcing the launch of a "special military operation" in Wudong. After staying up until 6 o'clock, I lay down again, slept unrealistically, and woke up after more than an hour. At about 8 o'clock in the morning, my friend forwarded the news from the embassy and asked me to go out to stock up on some food, so I went to the supermarket.
That morning, the atmosphere of panic in the city could be clearly felt. On the way to the supermarket, from time to time, Ukrainians with their families and luggage passed by me, and there was a traffic jam on the road, and there was a queue from near the gas station to a long distance, and everyone was ready to fill up the gas and flee to the far side. Fortunately, this atmosphere did not affect the order of life too much. There are still a lot of supermarket people, but they will not grab, and the supermarket staff pulls out the goods from the warehouse to start replenishing, so there is no shortage of goods. Prices have not risen, and there are even discounted goods.
I didn't buy any dishes, I just bought two small bundles of lettuce, 28 grams, about 7 yuan, and a piece of chicken breast, 34 grams, about 8 yuan. Also bought a bag of oranges (0.8kg), also 34 grams. I have no idea of hoarding goods, I can eat for three or four days.
▲ The purchase of things. Figure / Courtesy of the interviewee
After the gunfire was over, the days of Odessa returned to the past, as if the war had never happened. That afternoon, we also took an online class as usual, ukrainian. The teacher, who was Ukrainian and didn't seem to be in a bad mood, asked me, "Are you okay?" How does it feel? ”
"Everything is fine." I replied.
In Odessa, fear does not continue and amplify. Most people's impression of the dangers of Odessa comes from a fake news that, in the early days of the war, there was news that Russian troops landed in Odessa, but it was later confirmed to be false. And my own feeling, except for the two distant cannons in the early morning, there is no sign of war. Kharkov's friend said that on the 24th, before dawn he hid in the bomb shelter, and it was obvious that he was more affected.
The worst day in Ukraine, I spent it in Odessa so safely. Before going to bed, I closed my eyes and said to myself: Tomorrow I will wake up just like before.
What were the days like in the old days? In 2018, I came to Ukraine to study, majoring in dance, first studying preparatory and freshman year. The art here is well developed, piano, vocal music, dance, Ukraine has a strong artistic heritage. After a year and a half, I returned to China during the holidays, and then the outbreak of the epidemic, I was temporarily unable to return to Ukraine.
This year, I returned to Ukraine to continue my freshman year and found that the atmosphere of Odessa had changed more than before. One day, a mall near my house gathered a particularly large number of Ukrainians, and I guessed they might be marching. A few days before the war, a friend told me that a march had broken out in Odessa.
Now, the war has begun. For the people of Odessa, it was safe. After the early hours of the morning gunfire, people would walk on the streets again during the day, but I still tried not to go out.
Before, I loved to buy a cup of coffee with my friends and go for a walk by the sea in Odessa. Sometimes the class ends early, catch up with the weather, and go to the beach at 2 o'clock, which is particularly pleasant.
I began to worry that after the war came, I would not be able to go for a walk on the beach. The weather was nice today, and if there had been no war, my friend and I would have been by the sea now, with her dog and me with my cat, as it had been before. We should be by the sea.
▲ The sea in Ukraine. Figure / Courtesy of the interviewee
Ye Yun, a post-90s Ukrainian girl, studied at Peking University and has now returned to China for graduate school: no matter what happens, I don't want to leave, this is the land of our nation
I live in Lviv, in western Ukraine, and at 5 a.m. on February 24, I didn't hear an explosion. At 7 a.m., I was woken up by a WeChat voice call. My friends in China cared about me and asked me how I was. I watched the news to find out what was going on. I joined a telegram group chat that would notify me when there was an air raid siren and that I was going to hide. On the morning of the 25th, the air defense siren sounded, there was no subway in Lviv, and I hid in a basement for about 10 minutes.
The war came so suddenly that we all knew it would happen sooner or later, but we could never be mentally prepared. Many people stopped working, and many shops and restaurants were closed. Some fled to Poland or other countries, and many refugees fled to Lviv from Kiev or eastern Ukraine. Russian can be heard everywhere – the majority of people speak Russian in the east, and most people in Lviv speak Ukrainian. They all carried a lot of boxes and bags, and the Lviv government arranged some places for them to live, such as schools, and some locals brought refugees back to their homes.
After the war, my feelings were mixed. Sometimes it panics and suddenly becomes particularly sensitive to all kinds of noise. On the evening of the 24th, I did not sleep much, and I was very uneasy. I woke up in a trance and felt like I was dreaming.
On the morning of the 25th, I slept for a while, woke up very panicked, because I did not know what happened while I was sleeping, I immediately picked up the phone and continued to read the news. I'd rather not sleep than miss anything.
No matter what happens, I don't want to leave, this is the land of our nation, it is our home, we can't live without Ukraine. Just like when a ship sinks, the captain is reluctant to get off the ship. I want to witness and experience, and if not, it would be a little guilty.
My boyfriend is a Chinese, a PhD student in Ukraine, and he has no plans to return to China for the time being. Before the Chinese Embassy was counting the number of returnees, he did not know how long it would take to come back to Ukraine after returning home, and he also wanted to accompany me, I was here, if he left, it would be difficult to rest assured. Knowing that when the war started, I was still at my parents' house, and we all had one thing in common: we very much wanted to see each other.
On the 25th, I went with my boyfriend to an event in the center of Lviv, preparing food for the soldiers, and about 50 people gathered together, young boys, girls, old people, children, and everyone peeled walnuts together. The people who arranged the event didn't expect so many people to come, and it only took us two hours to peel all the walnuts.
People sang while peeling walnuts, some pop songs, and some folk songs, all sung in Ukrainian, which are songs that are sung on some major occasions. Ukrainians have a talent for music, some seem to come from the same school, are familiar with each other, they are divided into different parts, like a chorus. One of the songs, which translates to Chinese, has the lyrics like this:
Our father Bandera, Ukraine is our mother
We will go out for our Ukraine
Oh, how a mother buried, buried her dear son
She wrote those words on his tombstone
Glory goes to Ukraine
Glory goes to all heroes
……
▲ Lviv before the war. Chen Diou / Photo
The article is the original of the daily people, and the infringement must be investigated.