Can you remember where you were on February 24, what was going on in your head then, what were you thinking about, what, perhaps, were you most afraid of?
I was in Poltava on February 24, and since I still had the habit of turning off the Internet on my phone at night, I didn’t wake up at 5 in the morning to news and sounds, like most Ukrainians. I was woken up by a call from my brother at around 7 a.m., who was already halfway from Kharkiv with his wife. They laid a route through Poltava to the west and asked if I was going with them or staying in the city. My parents had already left Donetsk. So I decided to go so that I would at least be able to help my family on the way. There was no fear or panic — only a clear understanding that it’s necessary to act and have several plans in reserve for various cases of further development of events. I worried only for my relatives, who were tired on the road and could get into an accident, considering the condition of the path since February 24. And my cool head and wide base of contact numbers really came in handy — both on the way and upon arrival.
We know that the media, especially foreign ones, wrote a lot about a possible war long before it started. Did you foresee something like this at all for yourself?
I had little faith that a full-scale invasion would take place, but I didn’t exclude such an option. We discussed options with our relatives in advance, and I advised them to pack their suitcases, because Kharkiv and Donetsk regions were in greater danger than Poltava region. I didn’t prepare or pack anything myself.
If we compare it with the period up to February 24, then the great war probably strengthened the vectors that shaped my life and accelerated the decision-making process. For example, until February 24, I had little faith in the “good Russians”. After I made sure of it.
You have lived in Poltava for the past eight years, after you were forced to leave your native land in 2014 due to the Russian invasion. How was the city of birth affected by the great war of 2022? Did you monitor the situation, especially compared to 2014? Did the first days and weeks of the war cause great destruction to the city? It was a time when, it seemed, every corner of Ukraine was shelled. And what is the situation there at the moment?
I left Donetsk in 2014 because I planned to stay there after my studies, but the city was already occupied. The occupation of the city in which I was born didn’t remain, from that time to today. Since it is a small provincial settlement without particularly important infrastructure and geography, it was purposefully not fired upon or captured. However, individual hits were not even in the vicinity. Just in case, I won’t elaborate much. I will only add that nowadays there is less electricity and water supply in the city. In some ways, it was even saved by the fact that, despite 10 years of promises, it was never gasified. So, at least people have heating — on coal, pellets, etc.
Has Poltava already become a second home for you, with which you associate a lot and where you want to return? Is there a desire to still return to the native land in some not too distant future, when the war ends?
I think I can say that Poltava has become my hometown. I am grateful to it and to the people I met there, in particular, for helping to “close” the gaps in my humanities education. I have already visited Poltava twice, but for now I can say that this stage is over. It is unlikely that I will return to the city for a longer period, but I’ll visit it from time to time — to the gazebo, for dumplings and its, so unlike others, art.
During these almost ten months of the great war, what stories, moments, people are most etched in your memory? Both positive and negative.
I was most impressed by the Ukrainians themselves — their resilience and willingness to help each other despite everything. The story of how on February 24, on the way out of Poltava, our car got stuck in the mud on the side of the road and was at risk of overturning is illustrative. Almost everyone stopped by us and offered help. In the end, our car was pulled out with the help of two other cars and a cable, and the drivers left only when they made sure that the car was intact.
Surprisingly, people also left a negative impression. Residents of Kharkiv who were fleeing from shelling came to my apartment in Poltava, which was empty with my belongings. Without any questions, additional clarifications and demands, I agreed (because Ukrainians should help each other). But when, in 9 months, I came to pick up the rest of my things to move, I discovered that some of them had been stolen. After exchanging information with the family that lives in the apartment now, it became clear that the man who was evacuating people from Kharkiv housed a much larger number of people than I or the owner of the apartment knew about. He offered to compensate for the value of the stolen goods, most of which were more important to me emotionally than in terms of value. But when I mentioned the amount, he made a bargain and tried to shift the responsibility to the family that now lives in the apartment. And this was the most unpleasant moment, which made it even more disgusting.
What is your activity in journalism today, what topics do you work with the most?
As I said earlier, with the great war, I only covered more of the areas that led to that. So I moved to Kyiv, moved away from the news and switched exclusively to investigations and analytics. Now I work as an investigative journalist for Dozorro at Transparency International Ukraine.
How did this war change your daily activities?
In the first days or even months, I worked almost around the clock and never left my phone. It was constantly necessary to inform or explain something to the readers, to help someone, to find something, to direct or introduce someone. Then all emotions seemed to be preserved, and I felt like a logistic machine with several functions, one of which is the delivery of news. I remember that I hardly even felt the taste of food — I ate in order to continue working. When the situation more or less stabilized, I realized that I would no longer be able to work in this mode. I decided to switch to more thorough journalism, which would allow me to engage in long-reads and analytical research.
Perhaps you are involved in some voluntary, public organizations that help our military, civilians, send some kind of aid, for example, clothes, weapons, food, etc.
Can you share this information, maybe there are Facebook pages of such foundations / people who can be trusted, so that our readers can also join and contribute to new victories at the front?
Everyone knows about large funds – such as Come Back Alive or the Prytula Foundation. And it seems to me that donating there is the most effective. But since there were so many questions about Poltava, I will tell you about the local charity fund “VICTORIA”. This is a project of volunteers and philanthropists, aimed to help the Ukrainian military defending Ukraine. It is currently implementing the “Wings for the Armed Forces of Ukraine” program together with a team of professional developers and aircraft designers. Volunteers raise funds for drones of their own production.
What is the fate of your friends, acquaintances, relatives during the war, do you know someone who was forced to go abroad, or is currently at war?
My parents and brother and his wife still live in Lviv region, although they really want to go home. Most of my relatives, acquaintances, and friends remained in Ukraine. Several friends joined the Armed Forces. Most of them were ATO soldiers.
As the New Year holidays approach, such a wonderful tradition has developed to make wishes for the coming year, to dream about what we most want to achieve / get. Do you have such goals for 2023? What do you most want to achieve? And in general, how do you see our life in the new year?
I think that all Ukrainians now have the same desire — to free our lands from Russian troops and invaders. I want to believe that this will happen in 2023, but I am setting myself up for a longer sprint. So my whole life now is about trying to help the country as much and as qualitatively as possible from the sphere that I’m engaged in: to join reforms, influence law-making and reveal corruption, so that Ukraine will survive as a state and flourish after victory.
Translator: Bohdana-Nikolietta Terekhina
