Valeriia Pokusa and her husband are originally from the Donetsk region. When the fighting for Donetsk airport began in May 2014, they were forced to leave their home and move to Kyiv. And in February 2022, fleeing Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, they left the capital and did not return until the summer of that year.
Throughout this year, the family has been actively involved in volunteer work: Valeriia and her daughter Myroslava bake sweets, which the whole family then sells at a charity fair.
We talk to Valeriia Pokusa about her home region of Donetsk, the emotions she experienced when she was forced to move during the war, and volunteering through baking.
The following is direct speech (the interviewee will speak on her own behalf)
Born in the Donetsk region
I was born in the town of Kurakhove in the Donetsk region. It is now on the line of contact, followed by Marinka.
My parents were divorced and my father lived in Donetsk, so I often went there. I studied at the Donetsk Polytechnic Institute and graduated in industrial heat engineering. It was there that I met my future husband. After graduating, in 2011, I inherited my grandfather’s apartment in Donetsk, where my husband and I started our family.
At that time, Donetsk was very beautiful and a lot of renovations were done for Euro 2012, including the railway station and the airport. Donetsk was called the city of millions of roses, and it was true.
We didn’t think we’d be leaving our little hometown for long.
The office of the company I worked for was near the airport, so in the spring of 2014, my colleagues and I saw Ukrainian helicopters regaining control of the airport.
When my husband and I decided to leave the city, we didn’t think it would be forever, we were only going for a month. Then we had to come back for warm clothes.
As my husband was leaving to go to his parents in Kostyantynivka, Donetsk region, his bus came under fire. I remember how scared I was because there was no connection with him. I left the next day to go to my grandmother in Kurakhove.
A month later we realised that we could not go back to Donetsk, so I went to live with my husband in Kostiantynivka. We lived there for two years, working remotely and hoping to return to our apartment soon.
Later, having accepted that we would not return home, we started our lives from scratch. My husband got a job in Kyiv and we moved there.
When I was preparing the documents confirming our status as internally displaced persons, I heard a lot of negative things about me, that the people of Donetsk and Luhansk were to blame for the war.
It was painful to realise that people just don’t understand what it’s like to leave everything behind and go away. We had to explain to everyone that we wanted to live in Ukraine and that we had no affection for anything Russian.
A full-scale invasion forced us to leave our new home
I didn’t believe that we would have to leave Kyiv, just like Donetsk, until the very last moment, I didn’t even pack my anxious suitcase. My husband was sure that the aggressor would not stop.
The family left Kyiv on 25 February 2022, deciding to stay with relatives near the village of Makariv in the Kyiv region, and ten days later, because of the fighting that was going on nearby, they left for the Lviv region. My husband returned to Kyiv in mid-March and I stayed with my daughter Myroslava, returning only in mid-June 2022.
I volunteer because of my favourite pastry
My husband told me about the Sunday charity fair on the grounds of the golden-domed St Michael’s Monastery, which will start in May 2022: one of the organisers works with him in the same company. “The man who donates money to the fundraiser offered me to bake something for a charity auction because he knows I like to bake. Once, before my daughter was born, he even told me that I should open a small bakery.
I am not working now, I am raising five-year-old Myroslava. She goes to kindergarten once a week because there is a waiting list. So I decided to try volunteering. I took part in the fair for the first time at the end of January this year. My daughter and I baked gingerbread and honey gingerbread, painted them blue and yellow and made cookies called “Nuts”. The visitors loved our sweets and I decided to continue volunteering in this way. Traditionally, on the Sunday when the fair takes place, I prepare about 100 gingerbread cookies and a kilo of nuts. During Lent I baked thin muffins, and at Easter my daughter and I spent a week baking Easter cakes, of which we made 53.
I only manage to bake in the evenings because I am busy with other things during the day. And during the winter blackouts, there was only light at night, so I adapted: I bake at night and paint during the day.
Although it is possible to hand the baked goods over to the fair organisers, who are always on hand to sell them, we choose to sell them ourselves and come to Mykhailivska Square every Sunday with the whole family. It’s important for me to be there because I feel my work helps our military. We also want to show Mira by our example that you can’t stay on the sidelines when the country is at war. On the streets, we have met various soldiers, including those with prostheses and wheelchairs. We explain to our daughter why this is so and talk about why it is important to help. My daughter likes to treat the soldiers with gingerbread at the fair.
Mira knows that we left Donetsk because of the war. We talk about the war without being afraid of the truth. We say that Russia attacked our country, that Russian soldiers are killing our soldiers and civilians. That we bake cakes every week to raise money, because useful things for the front are expensive. We explain that we have to help our military, that they need our help. That the soldiers we meet at the fair are the soldiers who protect us, and that they will appreciate our support, and will be delighted when my daughter treats them to a gingerbread man.
If I were asked why and how we do this, I would say that I don’t understand why people don’t volunteer. In these difficult times, everyone should help take care of the Ukrainian soldiers. They are doing the hardest thing: defending our country and often, unfortunately, giving their lives. So our contribution is the least we can do to help them. We are the home front and we must do everything for our victory.
We will not stop. After victory, we plan to continue supporting our military, including raising funds for their treatment and rehabilitation.
