About This Story – I work with a small company in Ukraine that has conducted some IT development work for me from time to time. Unfortunately, since the start of the war in Ukraine, I lost touch with my primary contact, whose name is Artem. However, this past week we reconnected, and I asked if he could offer some thoughts on his experience of the war as his town was being overrun by the Russian army. This is an account by his girlfriend, Katya. It’s a gripping account of the initial days of the war in a town north of Ukraine’s capital called Chernihiv. Some parts are graphic and emotional. It was translated from Russian. This is the first of several reports that we will be publishing over the next few days.
February 22, 2022 – Katya’s Morning At The Start of the War Near Kyiv
As usual, I woke up early for work at 5:20. Usually, I don’t read anything on my phone in the morning, so I packed up and left by 6:00. When I walked, I wondered why so many people were around at such an early hour. Usually, this was not the case, and there are also a lot of cars. Finally, I got to work (to a coffee shop), went to the worker’s chat, and there the news was already circulating that explosions were heard somewhere on the outskirts of Chernihiv, and then a siren sounded.
Could I believe in what is happening? No. I could not even think that this could be in the 21st century, that I would be in the middle of a war. Some were able to distinguish the sounds of falling shells, and sigh with “relief” when they say that it is ours who are shooting at the occupiers.
Taking Shelter From The Shelling
It was hard to believe what was happening; my boyfriend and I didn’t collect things, and how could we understand what was generally needed and where to drag everything and how to manage it?
Somehow we collected some items from our house and in the evening went to his parents, they live near the school, and there was a shelter, the room was large. There were more and more people every day, and grandmothers, and a lot of children, people came with dogs and cats. We all slept in clothes on chairs sitting up the first night and then on mattresses, on school desks, on chairs, on blankets, and instead of a pillow, there was a jacket.
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