What I’ve been up to in the past weeks

This shitty story began on February 24, at 5:30 in the morning, i got a call from my best friend saying the outskirts of the city were being bombed. I honestly couldn’t believe it, i refused to believe it, and then i heard i for myself, very far, very quiet but it wasn’t a fever dream.
At first it was just the airport, then the radio towers, then it got closer, they were bombing the cadet universities, then the factories… My parents left the city on the 24th, the first day, they wanted me to come with them but i had 3 more people with me, my gf and two of her friends, we lived close by and when the shit hit the fan decided to live together for a while to make things easier in terms of supplies and basic coordination, nonetheless i said i wouldn’t come with them so they had to go without me. They made it out of the city and go to Poltava by night. In peaceful time it’s just a 2-3 hour ride, then it took 18 hours, they made it safe and unharmed, they took all their dogs with them and even the cat, hence why there was physically no place for 4 more people in the car. I was very glad they were safe, because they lived near an old decommissioned tank factory, which about 4 days later got destroyed by russian bombers.

 The sounds of explosions creeped closer day by day. I thought to myself “I live in a zone where nothing military of strategical is placed, only civilian buildings, a park and some coffee shops. Boy was i wrong…

On 28th of February my district was bombed with MRLS “Grad”, the spot with a water vending machine where i was standing half an hour before got hit by shrapnel and a man died there. Another female near my house was hit by shrapnel and lost her leg. Those were the casualties i saw with my very own eyes. God knows how many were there around the district.
Honestly i never experienced such horror in my entire life, when the rockets started to hit somewhat close by i took my gf to the area near the entrance door, this place was somewhat safe since the walls there were the thickest and strongest, we all got there and it fucking began. My hands are shaking just from remembering it. We just sat there on the floor in pure demonic horror all clumped up with me trying to cover all of them with my body in case of shrapnel or rockets hitting near. I never experienced nothing like this in my whole life. We lived on the 9th floor, the top floor in our building, running to the basement in case of an ongoing bombing was a death sentence, so we just sat there, helpless, terrified and praying to not get a direct hit on us. It felt like an eternity, 15 or so seconds felt like several minutes.

We had some things packed in our backpacks in case of having to run to the basement. When the explosions stopped we took our bags and made a run to the basement. What hit me first was the smell, smell of burnt gunpowder, then i saw the glass on the stairs, broken by shrapnel, it was everywhere, when we got the to first floor i stopped everyone and took a peek through the door, a car was burning outside, it got hit by shrapnel and catched on fire. The basement was just in a couple of meters to the left of the door so we made a run for it. several minutes passed by and a fire brigade came to extinguish the car. After that came the sappers to sweep the area of potential undetonated explosives. We sat in the basement for a couple of hours and decided to spend the night there, we got back up to the apartment and grabbed what we needed to spend the night, some food, warm clothes, blankets etc.

We had an arrangement with a friend of my father for when things will go from bad to very bad to leave the city, but there was a little misunderstanding, he thought i had a car, so he was planning to get out together in a sort of convoy. My mistake since i didn’t mention not having a car and he didn’t ask.. Anyways, the next night we spent in the basement. In the morning, cold and exhausted we got back up. We didn’t have a plan, i called that friend and told him everything asking when can he pick us up and that is when i understood that we are stuck… not to sound all poetic but my heart skipped a few beats. I hanged up and in a matter of ten seconds my father was calling me saying there is a man in the city that can pick us up now. I don’t know if it was some kind of god’s will or my guarding angel’s work but i called this man and arranged the pickup spot.

We had like 10 minutes to pack. Packed with almost nothing leaving  everything behind we ran to the pickup spot which wasn’t very far, near one of the entrances to the park ”Botanic garden” i mentioned before. He was closing in on it as we ran.  Everything was perfect in terms of timing. And here is another coincidence or god’s will - the city was silent, nothing was going on, almost no cars, not a single shot or explosion. We made out of the city very fast, passed through several checkpoints and in an hour and a half left the Kharkiv region.

We were on our way to Poltava. It was a smooth ride, when we got to Valki my father picked us up. I wasn’t happier in my entire life up until that moment.

In an hour or two we got to the place where my parents were staying at, it was their friends house.

Warm, quiet, cozy it almost felt unreal.

We started thinking where to find a place for us 4 to stay, the house was packed so we couldn’t really stay there for long. At first we found an old hut through the friends of my parents friends, this was an old hut built very long ago. It didn’t have any modern luxuries like an indoor toilet but it was at least something. 

I‘ve gone there with my father and after inspecting it we began preparations. Started a fire in the old stove around which the houses were built in the old times. It was cold af but the house slowly but surely began to heat up. A couple of hours passed by, my father had to leave me there to tend to the fire so nothing would burn or smoke up. When he returned he said that they found another place for us to stay, a kids camp.

We got there pretty fast and boy it was a difference xD Hot water, the rooms were somewhat warm and we got fresh blankets! We were happy. 

The woods span very far, there was a river nearby which i sadly didn’t visit in the time i was staying there. It was very peaceful there. 

A day goes by and we started planning on what to do next. I decided to stay with my parent’s since i can’t cross the border and get out of the country. My gf and her friends had a plan to wait for a while in the western part of Ukraine close to the border monitoring the situation and, in case of russia invading further, leaving abroad.  In the next two days a friend of my gf’s friends left Kharkiv, she had a car and was only with her kid. She had place in the car for my girls and long story short they left in two days when all things have been planned out. Felt sad, almost teared up since i was really scared for them but it was the only way, there was no point for them to stay at the camp for long since they are able to leave the country. They made it safe to Ivano-Frankovsk, the trip took 3 days, they were exhausted by the end of it but they were safe, away from the hell which russia brought on us. 

I stayed at the camp, doing whatever i was able to do physically and financially. Hauled over new beds into rooms from other camp buildings, chopped firewood, hauled it over to the boiler, bought meds and basic household supplies for the camp to keep things running, tended to the boiler form time to time on night shifts so the peoples rooms were warm, took out trash etc. Everything i could to get myself distracted from bad thoughts. 

On the 10th of March i left the camp since there now was a place in the house my parents were staying at. 

Now i’m trying to get back to drawing and since i have no idea if there will be anything in Kharkiv to return to i have to start working again so i can save up money to start my life over from almost nothing.  

But hey, i still got my ipad, so that’s something :D

P.S.

Thank you for reading my Dudes, I hope neither you nor your relatives have to experience the horrors of war.