Maryna Tarkhanova from Kyiv
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Hello, my name is Marina and this is my little story.
In the beginning of February 24, 2022… It’s hard to remember… On February 24, the first phone calls, from my sister and from my godmother, that we were being bombed. I didn’t believe it, later the neighbors started to gather, and it was loud, we heard all the shelling and started to gather with the children. My parents did not want to leave with me, but I took the children and bags and started to leave Kyiv.
I left Kyiv and went to the village, we were told that it would be quieter in the village, they wouldn’t get us there, and the main target was Kyiv.
I and my three children, we got into the car with our cat and dog, but the worst thing was that I took the children through Vasylkiv. I didn’t know that Vasylkiv had already been bombed very heavily. But the map showed that there was a free road there, so I went there.
After February 24, I never came back to live in Kyiv because we live on the 12th floor and there is a heat and power station near us. And we know how they bombed the heating and power networks throughout the year.
The scariest moment was when missiles were flying over our house and were shot down by air defense, and the debris flew to our house. Thank God, everything was fine, but my children were in the house, and I was outside. I thought that I would rather die with them than stand on the street.
In the early days, the children had terrible hysteria, we slept together, ran to the basement, then covered the windows with pillows and blankets, then with wood, something else, and so we were in the room, my husband and I were sitting in two walls.
I have three boys, aged 14, 8 and 10. We are a large family, and we used to receive benefits, but we did not return to Kyiv for a year, so we could not re-form this benefit.
Since the beginning of the war, we have been living in a village in the Kyiv region in a house that my husband inherited from his grandparents. Of course, gas and electricity, firewood and so on are so expensive that we need money for this.
For me, the most important thing is to feed my children, to keep them warm and clothed through the winter, and to buy firewood. Also, to make some food reserves in case there is an even bigger collapse.
I don’t want to return to Kyiv until the war is over. I don’t want to risk my children. For me, it’s better to dig in the garden and raise animals than to sit on the 12th floor and be afraid that a rocket will hit my house.
I see a prosperous Ukraine that will overcome all corruption schemes, because with the war I see that in the first months we were all united, and then something happened to people that made them behave like pigs. And I want our nation to be clean, to flourish! I want peace and a peaceful life to come as soon as possible, but this peace is achieved at such a price that sometimes it makes my head spin. Every day children, our boys and girls, die… It is very sad and sad that these “brothers” have brought us so much grief…
I will be infinitely grateful for your help!