war story
Winnipeg, Canada - Aug 27, 2022
Decision to leave Kharkiv
Decision to leave Kharkiv
By Olha Zahoruiko
Winnipeg, Canada, Aug 27, 2022
aiThe days in February 2022 of the first week mixed into one. I remember well, you go out into the yard in your incomprehensible state, there is silence around, you can’t even hear the dogs and birds, deathly. Snow falls quietly. You walk around the yard and watch how your footprints are imprinted in the snow. I turn on the phone, shoot a video on the camera and explosions begin.
aiYou still move on, since your whole life has already been disrupted, you photograph the snow, the yard, roses and junipers in the cold and enter the house.
aiWhat's going on doesn't fit in my head. The brain refuses to perceive this reality. Sometimes it seems that you are going crazy, it's completely surreal. Feeling of emptiness and hopelessness.
There was an understanding that it was already dangerous to leave.
aiOn the third day of fighters and panic attacks, the inability to go to the store, the water supply was turned off and I realized we would have to go.
aiFriends wrote and called that we had to leave. I spent 2 days in evacuation chat channels. I realized that getting into the city from the district is unrealistic. There was chaos there, public transport and taxis did not go, there was no gasoline. They bombed everywhere, and near the railway station too.
aiThere was an understanding that it was already dangerous to leave. Friends called from Dnipro. Other friends called both from Poltava and near Kyiv. Dnipro was persistent, it was decided to try to get out there for at least a few days. Then we could not imagine that the war would last for months.
