war story
Winnipeg, Canada - Aug 5, 2022
First day of war, Kharkiv
First day of war,
Kharkiv
By Olha Zahoruiko
Winnipeg, Canada, Aug 5, 2022
aiWe woke up to an incomprehensible hum, the floor of the house was shaking. My ex-colleague from Mykolaiv wrote me. Next came Chernigiv, Kyiv, Vyshgorod. I went out into the yard and got into the surreal.
aiMy brain refused to accept the reality. There was an unimaginable roar, clouds of smoke over Kharkiv. Our house was on the hill, one of the decisive factors when buying it a year ago was an amazing view of city.
aiMy parents called me from Belgorod region in Russia. They only live about 80 km from my house in Ukraine. Fighters are flying in our direction...
aiThe understanding came that war had begun, but like most people I didn’t want to believe it.
We couldn't even imagine what hell would ensue and for how long
aiThe first day passed in unimaginable shock. Everyone was writing, calling, it was all over the country. A friend from near Kyiv told me he crouched down on the street from the blast, in front of his eyes the bombs were falling.
aiWe received messages advising us to prepare the basement, documents and stock up on food and water. There was no thought of going anywhere.
aiExplosions continued throughout the day. From various points there were reports of convoys of Russian military equipment.
aiWe couldn't even imagine what hell would ensue and for how long.
