Refugees from Ukraine tell how they lived under bombing without electricity and heating

20 апреля 2022

As long as there is no war!  We hear these words so often from our veterans, and, unfortunately, they are especially relevant now. Over the past day, 150 citizens of Ukraine arrived in Belarus. Such data is published by the Border Committee. At the same time, the absolute majority, 128 people, transited through Poland. We can only guess what is wrong with the reception of refugees in our Western neighbor and why they are already fleeing from them as well. 

Anastasia Benedisyuk will tell you how Belarus has twice become a salvation for one Ukrainian family. 

Today is the 16th day of the war.  21:10. This is the battery my husband brought from the car, and we plugged in the light for 10 minutes. 

Vitalina shows the latest video taken in their hometown of Rubezhnoye in the Lugansk Region: children wrapped in several jackets over a blanket. Their house no longer had either light, or heating. They lived in darkness, cold and fear. The elderly parents of the woman were in similar conditions, they decided to run to them first. 

Vitalina, refugee from Ukraine:

The shells started flying at my parents' neighboring houses, the roof was on fire. In general, our parents just pushed us out: go. Go away from here. With kids! How come? My heart just broke into pieces, I could not imagine that at all. My brother is here, my parents are here, my home is here, and we must leave.

They had to make that decision. A few more days passed - and the parents said:  we are running out of food, the humanitarian aid did not come. They made the right decision. The elders of the family ended up by leaving everything too.

Not even a trace of their house was left in Rubezhnoye. 

The neighbor called his parents and said (he lives on the second floor): “I look at the place where you live, I don’t see the house. Where is your home? My mom is having a really hard time there.

Vitalina, with her husband and two children, traveled to Belarus in transit through Russia. And it was also a big risk!

Vitalina, refugee from Ukraine:

We fled under shelling, there was just a bare meadow, and it started booming so loud! I think, Lord, if If God exists, then we will get there. And it does exists. My brother has a wife and a child. They got it worse there. They have a 10 year old child, she is older.. The shell landed in just a meter. My brother ordered: "On the ground, close your ears, open your mouth! ". The child, she is 10-11 years old, she was simply covered with sand and soil. 

They knew that they would find peace and tranquility for themselves and their children only in Belarus. They had, alas, a bitter experience: in 2014 they already fled to Belarus. Then, however, having come to their senses after a while, they returned. Since they had a place to return to! Now the house is in ruins...  

“The children didn’t get off the swing for the first few days, only that the weather didn’t allow us, but it was so wonderful,” says a refugee from Ukraine. 

This is Chenki health resort in the Gomel Region. The trade-union health resort responded from the first days, they provide medical and psychological assistance. Children gradually learn to play. The youngest is familiar with everything here, jokes Vitalina. His parents gave him life right here, on Belarusian land. 

Vitalina, refugee from Ukraine:

I came with my baby girl Yesenya in 2014, she was 11 months old.  And I carried Vlad back in the tummy. We got it in Belarus. We like it here. Both nature and people. Here you feel good. You quickly get used to good things, it is easier to adapt, it is easier to calm down. Of course, this is a deep wound, it is better not to think about it and not talk about it, so as not to come unstuck.

The plans that they build together for the future also help them not to come unstuck - at last, they have a future.  They are not going to sponge on the Belarusians. At the time of filming, they found an apartment, the husband was waiting for an answer regarding the job. They are going to settle the children - in September the eldest will go to the first grade.