Svitlana is good in Vilnius: the call will not change the opinion of the Russian people, I tried
Svitlana Vilnius until the early morning of March 11th. She says that even after leaving her native Ukraine, she intends to work and benefit from it. However, when she tells how and why she left her relative, she seems to justify it – halfway through the conversation she admits that she still wants to explain, because her friends are defending her homeland, and she is safe here in Lithuania.
It is reassured that justifying is not really the case, not being here can be even more useful for Ukraine, Svitlana leans her head – she understands, but still wants to excuse herself, reminded that she ran first of all for her and her friends’ sons, who are both with her in Vilnius.
“It was such a spontaneous decision,” she admits.
There would be a sense of war
Having worked in cultural institutions for many years, with exhibitions and projects, Svitlana, who has volunteered, says that for some time now she has been thinking that war could ever break out.
“My mother is from Russia and there we went to visit many relatives, whom we kept in touch with. I remember driving 20 decades ago for the first time on my own, living there a few times. Then, interacting with relatives, watching the news on Russian television, and watching them there, I realized that they did not accept the fact that Ukraine had seceded from being an independent state. They still think Ukraine is part of Russia.
I have always heard accusations – how could your mother vote for Ukraine’s secession, because she is Russian! But the mother, living in Ukraine, realized that this is better for Ukraine. There was a great deal of dissatisfaction. So seeing all this, I didn’t rule out that war would break out, “says Svitlana.
Communicating with relatives while watching Russian television news, I realized that they did not agree that Ukraine is an independent state. They still think Ukraine is part of Russia.
She remembers Russian television news programs – she shows reports about Russia, she daily and necessarily inserts information about Ukraine, as if it were still about Russia, only another region.
“My aunts used to say to me, ‘You want us here, we don’t want you.’ Our Putin is good, and all ten of you toilets, that’s why he wants us. The whole world is jealous of Russia, everyone wants to live and speak Russian, only you one fool, your brain washed. For anyone else to learn any other language, does the whole world want to live on average and speak Russian? ”That was 20 years ago and it has intensified now.
Then when he says – write to relatives in Russia, tell them … We tried, my aunt answered “Sveta, congratulations on returning to Russia”. And my other aunt, whose son went missing in Chechnya as a soldier, to support Putin.
They have been to Ukraine many times, they have visited us, they know us, they really like the ancient architectural monuments of Kyjiv, and now they say “Putin, bring an army”, “Putin, equate Kyiv with the earth.” “Let your son be taken into the army, he will be killed there, and then we will see,” my aunts tell me.
Therefore, I do not think anything can be explained to them. It seems to me that some fundamental changes need to take place within Russia. And I don’t know how long it will take for their thinking to change, “Svitlana shares her personal experience.
Things were not prepared in advance
Svitlana that this perception of telling both her and other Ukrainians encouraged to turn to the European side. Her grandmother lives in a central town, where there is still no gas or normal road.
“So when they tell me they’re protecting us Russians, I don’t even know … Now they’re saying ‘you’ve been bombing Donbass for 8 years, take it back now, you deserve it,’ although we’ve been at war with that all year.” Russia itself, ”Svitlana does not hide her grief.
However, all this perception that there will be a war, calls to equip “danger suitcases”, to buy a radio receiver, matches, etc., did not work – the woman says that she did not do so.
“Consciousness refused to accept it and believe it,” he smiles frustratedly, considering that Kyjiv’s attack at 5 p.m. in the morning it seems as if Putin is trying to compete with Hitler, who attacked Poland in 1939 at a similar time.
“Some kind of random things – when I left I had what I was wearing, documents, a cat. Our beloved lizard, the spider, remained in the apartment, we filled them with water and I very much hope that the house will not be demolished and they will survive. Soaked tulips remained in the vase, and unwashed coffee cups remained in the sink. I thought I’d be back in three days and wash up.
A neighbor said he could take us together to western Ukraine. I did not want to, but I could no longer go to my parents in Central Ukraine. Then I went west against my will. We drove 300 km for 25 hours. And our tanks, our military, were moving all the way in front of us.
It was a huge stress for everyone. We pass Zhytomyr, it is bombed, the airport is bombed, and we drive side by side. The airport is also being bombed in Khmelnitsky, ”is the beginning of Svitlan’s trip, which left Kyjiv on the first day of the war.
Some kind of random things – when I left I had what I was wearing, documents, a cat.
She says she believes Putin’s regime and Russia are certain – they will take Kyiv in two days, and by bombing first military and then all other objects, they will frighten the Ukrainians, who will lose their orientation and capitulate.
Another example, like Svitlana, from her personal experience – first one aunt greeted her in Russia, then another her mother, her sister, came back, where it is ridiculously written that all of Ukraine will now feel what Donbass has experienced. which Ukraine has been bombing for so many years. And no America will help, and that’s what Russia and Putin need again.
“That’s why I don’t think they’ll understand anything there,” he continues.
Three days was not enough for the war to end
Svitlana says that in western Ukraine, she immediately became involved in volunteering, weaving camouflage nets in hiding places, and kept thinking that she would go home for a few days.
“It simply came to our notice then. I have worked in the field for many years, with various cultural projects and thus having cultural contacts in different countries. I also got to know Alvydas Nikžentaitis, the director of the Lithuanian Institute of History, so I asked him what opportunities to come to Lithuania, work here, live if the war did not end long.
He advised me to come now. I still tried to explain that I can’t do it right away, give it a week, maybe the war will end and you won’t have to go anywhere. To this he replied to me that, above all, the war was likely to end so soon. And even if that happens, hard times await Ukraine, and perhaps I will even benefit my country by living elsewhere.
I was also motivated by having a teenage son. These are extremely difficult times for children – they need to learn, they need stability in life. They are not yet old enough to take up arms and fight. That’s why I decided to go, and at the same time I took my son’s son, my friends are leaving, but I trusted my son and that’s how I temporarily became the mother of two children, ”Svitlana smiled a little happier.
I was also motivated by having a teenage son. These are extremely difficult times for children – they need to learn, they need stability in life. They are not yet old enough to take up arms and fight.
Lviv from Khmelnitsky by evacuation train from Kharkiv. Like sakolana, we walked on one foot for four hours, but at least stood behind that train to present: “A lot of people, part of the train, ran without lights for safety reasons. The stations are also completely dark. There are a lot of volunteers in them, there are corridors for people to just transit from the street to the platform.
The trains do not run according to the schedule, they just come to the station and wait – the trains run when they can, when they don’t shoot, after all, they cross the regions where the shootings take place, etc. We were lucky because we arrived and stopped the train. As if God had helped. ”
There are also a lot of volunteers at all the intermediate stations, who, having mastered the technique, stop throwing water bottles, cakes and diapers inside the windows as soon as the train. True, no one can do much – there is no possibility to go to the toilet, because everywhere children are sleeping on the floor, it is necessary to walk carefully through the bodies of sleepers to get out.
Svitlana says that most of the riders either don’t have or have very small things – sometimes a lot of suitcases are left because they just don’t have room in the car.
Lithuania is like a lawyer
Friends brought Svitlan and the boys to the Polish border, which they crossed. The woman shares her experiences with Polish border guards who go to the refugees, feed the children waffles, share sandwiches with water. As they say, sometimes they are quite commanding to take it, because the visitors come and forget that they have not eaten anything for a day, and there has been no water in their mouths for a long time.
Not my way of just running away from war. And I wouldn’t have run if I didn’t carry two children, I would have left to volunteer. But I left both for the kids and feeling like I could be useful while still here.
The family arrived in Vilnius by car. A few days later, the accustomed woman took action – she would try to systematize all the information for the benefit of the incoming Ukrainians. And would find data on opportunities to come, settle, get a job, occupy children in one place.
According to Svitlan, Ukrainians do not want to be dependents and live in a foreign country on benefits, so their main questions are where we will live and where we will work.
“I was very lucky because my friends helped me both in Ukraine and here. Now it is even clearer in Lithuania I see what Lithuania is like, Lithuanians are good friends of Ukraine.
I do not trust, I do not try to convince myself, and I say this very sincerely – Lithuania has been supporting Ukraine for many years, representing its interests in support, assistance, integration into the EU, etc. I felt that Lithuania is our good, fair lawyer. I always felt it. When I am asked why I came to Lithuania, even though I have friends I know in other countries who have also invited me, I say that I have been bribed for exactly what I have already said.
When I am asked if I am not afraid of Belarus on the one hand and the Kaliningrad region on the other, or if I am not afraid to go to a country at potential risk, I am saying that this is not my way of simply fleeing the war. And I wouldn’t have run if I didn’t carry two children, I would have left to volunteer. But I left both for the children and feeling that I could be useful to be here as well, ”says Svitlana.
Another area of activity is helping people fighting in Ukraine. Here, her attention is focused on the public “ELEOS – Ukraine” led by her father Serhiy, and is currently evacuating civilians from Kyiv Oblast, Kharkiv, Enerhodar. It also provides humanitarian assistance to people remaining in Kyjiv after the evacuation.
As Svitlana says, every support is needed now.
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