Toulouse: “My parents live to the rhythm of howling sirens forcing them to take refuge in the cellars”, testifies a Ukrainian woman
Yuliya has lived in Toulouse since 2014 but was born in Ukraine where she spent the first 18 years of her life. She is filled with concern for her relatives who remained in Ukraine and who are currently living under Russian bombs.
“Their daily life is punctuated by sirens, when my family hears them, they have to take refuge in the basement”. For almost a week now, the family of Yuliya, a Ukrainian mother, who has been living in Toulouse for eight years now, has seen her life turn into a nightmare. “They are alive, for the moment because they are in an area for the moment spared,” she says, her voice filled with anguish and concern.
Since the first Russian strikes in Ukraine, Yuliya has only slept a few hours a night. She is hanging on to her cell phone and the news of her loved ones. His parents and his brother are still there. “My parents are old, they hide in the cellars, avoid the windows in case they explode because of the bombs. Just knowing that they are in danger prevents me from sleeping. I tremble all day long”, describes this 39-year-old mother. She evokes a war which started “suddenly” and which quickly “transformed into a dirty war where civilians are killed”. “At the start, we didn’t think it would get out of hand like this. Maternities, hospitals have been destroyed by bombs, premature infants are taken care of in caves, in difficult conditions sometimes without the necessary equipment”, adds- she.
“We must stop this war”
Worried, she checks in daily on her loved ones. She also recently learned that her brother, who lived in a 10-storey building, left his home “because the bombs were aimed at towers like his”. His 46-year-old brother decided to help his country deal with the Russian invasion. “As a hunter, he is armed. He volunteered to provide security in certain neighborhoods,” says this mother again. She does not hide her hope that the European Union will come to the aid of her country which she loves so much. “We must stop this war, no one understands the point of this conflict,” she implores.
More than 500,000 people have left Ukraine since the Russian military offensive on February 24, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Ukraine’s health ministry estimates that 352 civilians, including 14 children, have died since the Russian invasion began on Thursday.