After this horrible aggression of Russian military under the order of Russian President Vladimir Putin, it's all of us of a lot of interest, Anna, to learn about your situation. Can you explain what have you experienced together with your family? How happened to leave, where you were coming from? Just give us an insight and even an emotional one how you experienced the last days please. Everything was starting at 5 o'clock on Thursday, when we were awake because of explosions. There were, I don't know how many explosions, but this sound was far from our place. We were awakened by this sound was far from our place. We were awakened by this sound and everybody in our city understood that it's the beginning of the war because Americans gave us all this information through our media about Putin's plan and we understood it. But many of us were at my city, it's a big city, Kharkiv, near the borderline, there are near 2 million people, there are 2 million Ukrainians there, but not now, it was before. And so I just tried to put all my things together, and I've got two kids and husband, and so I try to put all things together, and it took me seven hours to understand, not understand, put my things together and pack everything I want. And all the time we called each other, I mean, to families, to friends. We discussed who or what would do. Some people who have got cars, they would like to drive by cars, drive away. And people who doesn't have cars, they tried to decide what to do. Some of them used buses, but many of them left at their homes. And my family, I mean, just me and my husband and my kids, we left our city at the first day. But my parents and parents of my husband they are still there my parents are 60 years old and my parent my husband's parent his his mommy is 80 years old they don't want years old. They don't want to go to the security place in the subway, in the metro station. They stay at their homes, at their apartments. They live in block houses, big 16 floors, 80 floors houses. So they just stay there. And I've got a sister Ее семья оставила нашу городскую городскую машину, но на следующий день, на фрайд. Первое, многие дороги, не многие, главная дорога, когда вы хотите идти в восточный, road to when you want to go to the west from the from Kharkiv you need to go to Kiev Kiev and the road was busy really really busy people need to wait for hours to move further. And so we decide, because we started to prepare for this situation some months ago, I read a book about how civil people have to behave in this case. So I knew that we had to choose not main road. And we chosen it. And the road was alongside with the border line. It was a little bit dangerous, but we didn't know how much dangerous. We didn't see anybody on the roads. It was like some apocalyptic apocalypses because we know these places because we've got a house in the countryside in these places and normally these roads are busy but they weren't busy they weren't uh uh absolutely free uh we saw just um some military ukrainian military people uh with big uh so we they look that people looks uh very brave and give, I saw a confidence in these people. So, but we asked military people, the warriors, we asked them at that time if the road was safe. And they say, sometimes they said yes, sometimes they do like this, we didn't know. And I think it was, decided that they say said yes so we go through so we went through and then uh one checkpoint no sorry a checkpoint it wasn't a checkpoint were just military guys. We asked them because nobody was there. It means absolutely nobody. And we asked if we could go through, if we could go ahead, and they said, no, there are Мы могли бы идти вперед, но они сказали, что нет, там активные... Я забыла слово, когда люди борются. Так что там активный бой вперед в 20 километрах. Это было в Ахтырке, городе, который сейчас очень сильно страдает. Борик, можешь помочь мне? Извините, это мои дети, они пытаются играть здесь. Like, they try to play here. So we got fear. And I asked my husband to stop the car, and we tried to see on the Google Maps, where we can go, how we can choose another road. And that's why we chose some very uncomfortable road without any materials. It was like ground road and that's why our car is very dirty until now. So we go through all Ukraine and we are really dirty because of that moment. We are really dirty because of that moment, because we got afraid. And then we came to my grandparent house in Poltava region. It's the next region. It's a region between Kyiv region and Kharkiv region. But this region, this Poltava region, is still behind the river. Ukrainian, if you know, we've got a big, there is a big river Dnipro in Ukraine. And this river divides our country into parts. We call them left bank and right bank. And all my home city, Kharkiv and Poltava region, these places are in the left bank, near to Russia. And we would like, our first decision was to get through this river to the right bank because we were afraid of that situation if Russians would explode all bridges. So it could be a problem, big problem to get behind, to get to the right bank. And so we just tried to do this. And we did it on the third day, on the Saturday. And then we met my sister with her family at the same place. So we were living left bank of the river. In Ukrainian, it's called Livo Berezhia. So we were living our Livo Berezhia at the same time with my sister family through the bridge in Kremenchuk. Kremenchuk, it's a city. I don't know how big the city is, but maybe it's a town. I don't know. Because Ukraine is really big. It took, in normal driving, it takes 16 to 24 hours to go through Ukraine if roads are free. Not free, if you use good roads, good highway. But we used some local roads, sometimes without any cover. and can you help me? Yeah, thank you. I'll come back to you later. And then we didn't have a place to stay. All hotels were busy, but mobile connection was stable, and it is stable until now. And Google Maps were working and work now very good. and works now very good. But we are expecting this kind of attack on our mobile connection and internet connection in next two days, or maybe next days. So we, at that moment, we knew that there were a special website. It's called Prefistok. It means refuge. find proposals from people around Ukraine, local people propose their homes for people like my family. and you will see how many positions you can get. Normally, it's not in big cities. Normally, it's about some villages and houses like I'm staying now. So we found a really nice woman, Lana. We called to her and she said, just come to me and you've got beds and food and that's all. And you can use my facilities. And so we're here. And then we stay for one night. Our kids were playing with her cats. And it was a big problem to leave cats without us because kids wanted to take just one mommy just let me take one with us and then we go to we've got place rented place in Carpathian mountains uh that place were rented by my friend with her family uh she's got three kids and uh with her husband they've got three kids really really small and they got there by train. At that time, there were trains from Kharkiv. Now trains are free from charge, from money. You can use train without any money, but there is no enough places in such trains and they don't depart by schedule. come have to come to the railway station and until the time the special time in the city it's called sorry i didn't look what's the name of this time in english but maybe you can understand me commandant time yeah maybe you know this so in harkin right now it's uh 4 p.m this is the last time they when you can be on the street and so you have to to reach a rail station until this time and wait for the train. And train normally come at 10 PM or something like this. So you have to stay at the railway station. And now some of my friends, they try to use this opportunity. They were under bombing for five days. And their nervous systems can't stand with this situation so they just take their kids and come to the came to the station as they know but some are still in the harkiv and uh as uh oh everybody i got Oh, everybody. I got many chats in Telegram. It were our local chats for school, for kindergarten, among kindergarten parents, among school teachers. I'm an English teacher. It was a group. among, it was a group, it's still a group of Capoeira. My kids were attending a group of club of Capoeira. I know much information about the real situation from these chats from people who are staying right now in Kharkiv. And their messages became more and more, not panic, but suffering. They are suffering right now because they are. But I see that nobody wants to say that we Ukrainians can accept any conditions. I mean, we don't want Russia here. Those people who are staying right now in Kharkiv on their bombs, they don't say things like I've heard from people from Lugansk and Donetsk. Those people who were staying at Lugansk and Donetsk, those people who were staying at Lugansk and Donetsk, they said I want that everything will finish, I don't mind however we mind, we don't want Мы не хотим русской оккупации или русского фейкового правительства или чего-то подобного. or something like this, we understand that we are under danger everywhere because bomb was fallen in Western Ukraine, in Lviv, in Ivano-Frankivsk in Rivne, as I know, maybe I am wrong without some of these cities, but I know about Rivne and Ivano-Frankivsk. So the danger is everywhere. But I haven't met people that said that we don't mind. We just want finishing. We mind. We want to win So and now we are We were traveling for finding right place we haven't find it Right now and because we went first we went to the we can't leave ukraine i mean i can and my kids can but i don't want to leave my husband here he can't because uh he is at fighting age. He is fighting age. But he is not prepared. Many, really many people I know, really many people I know, I mean, guys with sport, physical, not education, but with good physical state and who don't have children, many children, or some of them got children and even three or more. So it was a really, really difficult choice. Which oblige is most important, oblige to our country or oblige to our families. For me, it's really a tricky thing because I know that I need my husband. So I try to, I just not let him go. And for now, he was listening to me, but nobody knows. We're just living for one day. And so we went to Western Ukraine and then come closer to my sister, where she stays right now. She's staying not far from from river Dnipro. So in this, we were, let it be traveling for three days, just three days. We were slept one day in car with our children because we've got, one day in car with our children because we've got... They are laughing, I like they are laughing. You know my this hospital woman, hospitable woman who give us this gives us this house and my husband they were laughing. So let me remind I was talking about traveling around from west to east to center of Ukraine back and we saw that in these three days situation became more nervous here checkpoints are everywhere I think I didn't count but I think I didn't count, but I think I saw like maybe 50 checkpoints. And all the time they check documents. Sometimes it seems like you move through borderline. It took one, we got experience with three hours waiting to just go through the checkpoint. Our check, I mean, this procedure takes only five minutes for us but they need everybody try to to be sure to find the way how to be sure is it nobody from us is dangerous so now we don't slept we didn't uh no we haven't slept enough we slept maybe seven hours per night. So we've got a problem here. I would like to ask you, since last Thursday, the 24th of February, the entire world is totally shocked by this brutal and aggression and atrocity of um personally in the sense in the meaning of this experience actually totally disrupted your daily life. That means that one day even your children woke up in a war situation. And I guess it's up to you, even as parents or as a teacher, for instance, to your pupils to explain what's going on, actually. to your pupils to explain what's going on actually. Can you briefly tell us how can you talk about this what you're experiencing? Sorry, may I? Your question was about the future, yeah? No, within the last days, yeah? Yeah, I've lost connection for some words. That's why I tried... I can repeat it once again. Even your children, or I don't know, probably your pupils as your teacher, you have to talk to them and to explain what's going on here, why this war and why this aggression and who is responsible for that and what we are looking for. And it's for all of us but especially for you there's no doubt uh very very difficult to talk about it um maybe for me it's not difficult to talk um i try to find a better lightning but it's not doesn't good. Sorry, I can say it again. Yeah, so it's not difficult for me to talk about it. My kids are eight years old and six years old. So they know that we've got a war before this time. We said them. I didn't keep them behind of this thing. I didn't say them any brutal situation. Just I say these words that there is a Ukraine there is a Russia and there is a war between two countries since my daughter was born she was born in in 2014 so they just grew they grew up with this information and 2014. Они просто взрослели с этой информацией. И что это за проблема, что это за аргумент? I say to my kids that Russia, as a big country, thinks that Russia, this country, has got some rights for Ukraine. They thought, sorry, they think that we are part of them. And this is not the truth because we are separate country. We are independent country. And they just want to use our resources people resources natural resources, money resources, military resources and because we are smaller, much much smaller we because we are smaller, much, much smaller, we can't stop them fully right now. I've got some conversations between me and my elder pupils because I teach really small kids from three years until six and seven years old. And just for the first time, I've got 10 years old kids. This year, it was for the first time for me. So they asked me in December, much information but it was when we are talking about pupils they've got their families and their families maybe can give them their own explanation. That's why I didn't speak much about this. I just said them that if time became worth, they have to listen to their parents. They have to listen to their parents and in the moment they should not to ask many things, but they can ask later. And they just need to do what their parents ask them. That's the most important thing we've talked with my pupils and the conversation was started. Sorry. Yes. It was started because one family of their classmates, one family moved to another country in January. moved to another country in January. So they just have many questions. What has changed? That's why we've discussed a little bit. And in Kharkiv, there were many families with Russians. с русскими. Я имею в виду, что моя мама русская. Батя моего мужа русский. Так что много-много лет мы не можем сказать ничего против них. can't say anything against them. It felt like we couldn't say if it looked like this. if any in 19th if anybody says said something against russia i mean in political way in a historical way it looks like this person is nationalist uh it looked like this person is... Oh, sorry. This person is... Wait, sorry, I have to find where is it. Oh, I found it. It works, yeah. Yeah. So... So this person is radicalist, he is radical person, but year by year... Sorry? Yeah, I have another question, I guess, which is very important. So I would like to know, you have to get crucial information at the moment, just to know and to get some orientation what's going on. And that's why I would like to ask in which media or even information sources can you trust? Can you... I would like... I don't like to call it objective, but some sort of independent information. Many of the media I've read before, I continue to read right now. Я буду продолжать читать. Это украинские, я имею в виду онлайн-медиа. Я предпочитаю читать больше, чем смотреть. Потому что видео меня раздражает. more than to watch because a video makes me crazy it impresses me more that's why I prefer informational radio and online I can say newspapers so I've got three online, I can say newspapers. So I've got three favorite on the national level. And I've got one local, I mean, Harkiv media, I read. And my husband and my colleagues at school, they talked much about which media we can trust and which we can't so there were many conversation about these topics so i know that media can be white or not white and i have to check What media I, we called it, you eat. What media you eat. So I try to eat just right media. can trust who are, I don't know, they are respectful. And I just compare what I read and see and watch and what they, and if it's the same. So I think that I can stay with this media and I can trust this media. Yeah, we are already proceeding very far. And I would like to ask you a last question for us, probably the most important one. the most important one. How can we and the neighbor states of Ukraine or even all over the European Union, how can we support you? What do you expect from the world? We are always promising that we all stand with you, we all stand with Ukraine, but don't let it just be a whole phrase. So how can we actually give you our hand? How can we help you? What do you need on our side? People, maybe in next days, people will need some humanitarian help. I mean, food. And if sometimes it is about money and sometimes it is about real food and all of my European friends they invite me to come and me and all another my friends so we everybody who's got anybody in Europe got invitation. And it was really helpful just to understand that we are waiting for, that we are not somebody who nobody wants to see. Just this information was helpful. And we achieved this help. grateful for position of European I don't know the right name of these organizations I mean official governmental organization like European Council where diplomats work, because I want to say two things. We are grateful for those countries who stopped to block us. I mean, Hungary, I mean, president of Czech Republic because previously, and even about, if you talk about Germany, because previously was a stopped the government from helping us with, from not helping they help but they discuss a lot a lot everything and now they just say yes we can help Germany give us gives us sorry I'm tired so I just forgot the words Germany gives us really helpful I forgot the name of yeah there is not my husband I can't I forgot the name of... Yeah. Yeah. There is not my husband. I can't ask. There is a local people. Don't mind. Don't mind. Yeah. So this is the first thing. So the next thing is that this... Now we think me and my husband, that Europe, I mean all European Union, start to believe in us, to trust in Ukraine. дать нам руку, чтобы приближаться к Европе. И, возможно, в дипломатическом смысле это поможет. Но я не знаю, как точно. Потому что самое важное, что сейчас русские люди должны меняться. important thing is now that Russian people have to change. Because the most crucial thing is behind the border of Ukraine and of the European Union, I think. I think European people make everything that they can do. They give us money right now. I mean, ordinary people, because I belong to some religion organization, and I see that they start to collect money. and I see that they start to collect money. I see that from USA we can get money for our people who don't have money to pay because prices became, I don't know, they became really big. Everything cost twice more expensive. And for me, it's not a big problem right now because we've got some saved money. But for some of my friends it's a problem and we know that we can uh cope with this problem because of european and american people ordinary people so this help is really important i mean just to think to take our refugees i I mean women and kids. And my mom called me, but I hope I can answer later. And this morning, because of many European people came on meetings on the street, European politicians can see that they do everything right because they also look to their election base so they can see that if they support, I mean, if politicians support Ukraine, people support them. And so it works together. And for me, it's really big help. And for me, it's really big help. Yesterday, not maybe yesterday, but day before, we've thought that we can stop Russian aggression in a few days. But it looks like something goes wrong with the mentality of Russian president and Russian government because they became furious and they won't just kill everybody in Ukraine. I mean, everybody who is against them. Now they can't talk in an adequate manner. inadequate manner so we can't do anything with them I think we just hope that somebody can stop them inside so inside. So and we are I start to think that Russian people they are miserable because they don't prevent they don't say enough about it they say to the Ukrainian families say that we trust to our media here they say you bomb yourself we trust them you are zombie you are media zombie you Ukrainians you are media zombie because you think that it's Russian attack, but it's a pity you have to do something with this. We are suffering, Russians say right now. It's so understandable. I don't speak to my relatives in Russia because I don't have connections to them. I don't have connections to them. I asked my mom if she speaks, if she spoke before, I mean, on the first day. And suddenly her voice became cold. And she said, my mom said, no, I didn't. I think they have enough problem. They have problem. Yeah. Anyway, a very difficult situation. Nevertheless, Anna, many thanks for your time that you gave us this one hour insight in the current situation. Many thanks also for your courage and your patience. DorfTV is part of a civil society media landscape. We try to give people like you visibility to make your voice heard. I hope it can also help as we will distribute it and broadcast it. We are actually with you and we hope that we don't know where it ends and when it ends but that you one day will wake up in a Ukraine in peace and democracy so we keep our fingers crossed and many thanks and all the best for you and your family and your future thank you goodbye Anna if you need more contacts, maybe in Harkiv with people who can speak, I can give some contacts. But let's do it on the chat. You can probably write it. Yeah. It's amazing because I have, there are are I don't know three or four question more left but we already talked one hour and that's that's a lot for our audience yeah yeah yeah so yeah you can I don't know maybe I I don't know what the Austrian people want to know. We want to know all about you. I guess it's very important to set up the bridges and to stay together, to be in contact and to help you wherever we can.