The Russian war against Ukraine is destroying the breadbasket of the world.
By Irina, single and dating coach from Mariupol. She supports men on GenerationLove who are dating women in Ukraine. With her family she suffered the Russian bombardment of Mariupol. They escaped death only by inches. In mid-April they managed to flee.
On February 24th our life collapsed. Everything we had lost its value. As a family, the only thing that mattered was that we were trying to survive. Each new day was harder and worse than the one before. During the first two weeks of the war, we prayed that God would save our lives. But then we prayed that we would die quickly and without pain.
My husband and I were afraid we would be killed and our son, aged 6, would be left alone with no food and no water. We were afraid that our child would die tortured in pain. That's why we always tried to be together so that death would not separate us.
At the end of February, electricity and internet went off. And then there was no more telephone connection. But the worst started when water, gas and heating disappeared. -10°C outside, +10°C in the apartment. We slept in winter jackets and boots. We were terribly cold. The temperature in the apartment dropped by 1°C every day.
There were food supplies for two or three weeks, water for three days. There was no way to cook. I had to make fires near the entrance. First, we took all our books to make fire. Then we collected brushwood. It was difficult because we were constantly being shelled. We couldn't go more than 20 to 30 meters from the house. There was always the danger to get killed. All trees in our area have been felled. There was a fight for every tree stump.
When the water supply ran out, we collected snow and water from puddles.
Every day it got harder and harder to survive. It was very dangerous to stay in the apartment. From March 10th to 11th we were shelled with cluster munitions. Miraculously we survived, two walls saved us. But our child started stuttering and for one day he didn't speak anymore at all. Since then, we have not returned to our apartment. We only lived in the basement.
Our older son is grown up already and lived in another part of Mariupol. From 2nd to 11th March there was no sign of life from him. We didn't know if he was still alive. Then we heard that his apartment was destroyed, the house was hit by a Russian bomb. He survived. After almost two weeks he managed to get to our part of Mariupol.
We rarely left the basement. Mainly for cooking on the fire. But it was very risky. Airplanes dropped bombs, two each time. We knew we had to hide as soon as we heard the roar of an airplane. Nobody knew where they will drop the next bomb. They circled over the city, circled and circled. That roar is still in my ears. We counted the bombs dropped by the next plane. Then a bomb was thrown, it did not come to us... then the second, somewhere near us... Now we had 5-7 minutes to cook until the next plane came... Later they came with two planes and then with numerous... We were no longer able to count the bombs. We could no longer calculate the time for cooking. Either we took the risk or we starved.
We ate twice a day. A tablespoon of oatmeal for breakfast and a ladleful of soup for lunch. The child dreamed of bread... "Mom, give me bread, give me bread." There is no bread. I cried, he cried.
The worst time was at night. We fell asleep hoping to wake up in the morning. The child fell asleep quickly, we hardly slept. I hugged our child and cried all night. Dust fell from the ceiling. It was difficult to breathe. The air was heavy, a suffocating smell of mold, dust, fire. In the morning we said to each other, "Thank God we survived another night."
The fear left us a little during the day, we have been sitting on our rags that we called beds and heard how the city is being bombed. We were 36 people in the basement. Families with children one year and older. Old people and young people.
When we received the news that there is an exit from the city, everyone rushed to their broken cars. Several cars did not work anymore. There were 4 cars left for 36 people. There wasn't enough place for everyone. A decision had to be made who remains in this hell. They put me in a car with the younger son. My husband and the older son got a place in a van. We couldn't leave, planes were flying... We couldn't stay, but we couldn't drive either, both were dangerous. Both could mean death.
We decided to drive. We said goodbye and prayed. Then we drove at high speed. A plane flew over us as it was trying to catch us. The children froze, the women cried and prayed. The driver called, “Everyone shut up, be silent!”… I don't even know which was more frightening, sitting and waiting for death or driving towards death. Before my eyes destroyed buildings appeared, dead bodies and animals on the streets. Broken military equipment, burned shops. It was the first time we were so far away from home. And what we saw… was hell, real hell, not from a movie.
It's over for us, we got out! We are safe now, " there we were killed... but we forgot to die." Heart to shreds, soul torn to pieces, dirty, hungry, exhausted, frightened... but alive.
Later we received information about the death of friends, relatives and close people. One of them is Angela and her girls, aged 8 and 10. She worked for me as a German/English translator. Many on GenerationLove know her, she helped men and women when meeting in Mariupol. My pain and sorrow know no bounds.
On GenerationLove you can read more reports from women about the Russian war in Ukraine.
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