WILL THAULT: Tanya’s story continues from the Ukraine

By Will Thault

If you read my column two Sundays ago, you were introduced to Tanya, a Ukrainian living with her family in Kyiv. She has an account with the social media platform Instagram where, before the Russian invasion of her country began, she sold handmade jewelry online. For those of you who have access to the app, her page can be found by searching, kolyada.t.

Rather than shutting her site down due to the war, she began posting a series of very personal eye-witness accounts of what it’s like being among innocent civilians, standing alongside fellow citizen soldiers and regulars on the front line of a brutal Russian military attack on her country. As mentioned in my previous column, Tanya has given me permission to share excerpts from her posts with you. Her story continues:

Saturday, Feb. 26:

“Evening is approaching, the third evening of the war. To be honest, I’m very scared. My mother lives in Chernihiv, a city in northern Ukraine, on the border with Belarus. She works there at the oncology center. Today I called (her) about a million times. And you know, it’s very scary to talk to your mom and hear shells explode near her from Grad. Do you know what Grad is? This is a weapon that fires 40 shells one after the other, very powerful, very destructive. Now my grandmom, my brother and his family are in the same apartment with my mom, where the youngest is my nephew, a smiling boy who is 8 months old. It seems that today my family smiles only thanks to this little boy, because he smiles like a bright sun.”

Sunday, Feb. 27 near noon:

“Hi friends. I’ve been trying to write a note for you all morning, but I don’t know what to say. I am very angry and happy today. We are being beaten, but we are becoming stronger. But the level of pride for my people is even higher. We are strong, we are cool, and the world should know that Ukraine is not Russia. Cockroach Putin thought we would meet his troops with flowers. But we are fighting because we do not want to have anything to do with those for whom this non-human is an object of admiration.”

Sunday, Feb. 27 mid-afternoon:

“I want to tell you that my beautiful city is not called Kiev (KEE-ev), but Kyiv (KEEVE). Yes, against the background of the terrible events that are happening here in our country, it does not matter, but then the war will end, we will rebuild our cities, you will come to Ukraine and know exactly how the name of its beautiful capital sounds in Ukrainian.”

Monday, Feb. 28 early evening:

“Right now, at this moment, terrible loud explosions are being heard all over Kyiv. The Russians are bombing Kyiv. Yes, those people whose president is lying to the whole world that no one will touch civilians. My heart is torn to pieces every second.”

Wednesday, March 2 mid-morning:

“Good morning to everyone. I’m alive, hurray! I read a very interesting thing (in my personal message box this morning): that I am a bot and that I sow hatred and fear. Very funny, yes? You know, it’s not me who sows hatred and fear. This is being done by the troops of the neighboring country, and I am talking about their atrocities so that the world knows how the life of an ordinary person can change in a matter of hours. As for being a bot, it’s even funnier. I have been running this account for 7 years, and it is clear that I am a real living person. My name is Tanya, I am 42, in three weeks I will be 43 if I am not killed by a rocket. I am writing this note while listening to the sounds of gunshots somewhere very close.”

Wednesday, March 2 dusk:

“There is no game by the rules: Russian soldiers fire on hospitals, schools, civilians, roads — all in a row. For the whole world, this is a scary reality show live. But at the same time, Europe refuses to close the sky above us and refuses to give us old planes. Politicians spend a lot of time consulting, pondering, weighing their risks, pros and cons … and we die in the meantime.”

Thursday, March 3 mid-morning:

“You ask me how to help my country. I think there are several options. You can transfer funds to trusted organizations that help the army, refugees, those who remain, and so on. In addition, you must not remain silent, you must put pressure on your governments to take the maximum measures to help Ukraine. If Russia wins, it will be very active in influencing the policies of your countries, it will constantly threaten the whole world, because it will feel its impunity. We are very strong here, you see. But we can’t do it alone. Thank you for your support! Glory to Ukraine!”

Friday, March 4 shortly after midnight:

“My daughter says before going to bed: ‘Mom, you know, the siren tune needs to be replaced. Because I’m so used to it that I don’t even notice, it became background noise.’”

Friday, March 4 dawn:

“Good morning. We are still alive. Every morning it turns out that Russia’s attack and Ukraine’s destruction is not a nightmare, but such a new reality. Do I need to tell you that not only Ukraine is in danger now, but also part of Russia and Europe because of the explosions and fire at the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant?”

Saturday, March 5 early evening:

“I must point out that not only the military is involved in the destruction of Russian equipment. For example, today in Kyiv, a woman saw a Russian drone from a balcony and shot it down with a jar of cucumbers. We have local dudes capturing enemy armored personnel carriers. Local gypsies stole a tank from the Russians. We have homeless people who bring bottles to the territorial defense to make explosive cocktails. And these (expletive) hope to defeat us, seriously?”

Monday, March 7 mid-afternoon:

“Hi friends. We decided to leave Kyiv, my husband takes me with my daughter and dog to a safe place, and he himself will return to Kyiv … to continue defending our city.”

Monday, March 7 late evening:

“All day on the road, tired, but lucky to find a comfortable place to sleep. It is not easy now, most hotels are overcrowded at night. Traveling in Ukraine has become very difficult … checkpoints, inspections, huge queues at gas stations and shops. At one checkpoint, the fighters gave us apples; at the second checkpoint, volunteers fed us soup, cupcakes, and tea. It seems that we did the right thing, although this decision was very difficult for me. The thought of a long separation from my husband is frightening.”

Tuesday, March 8 noontime:

“We have just been stopped by a fighter at a checkpoint in Volyn to give me flowers in honor of March 8.”

Wednesday, March 9 early morning:

“We are on the road, now in Poland, we will continue in the morning — we still do not know where exactly. There are five of us: my friend, me and three children. On no, also Panda, my beautiful traveler.”

Thursday, March 10 mid-morning:

“My friend the jeweler, whom I have never seen in my offline life, invited us to her home in Italy so that we could be in a quiet place and I could work. It is very important for me to get back to work now, because my family and my country really need support. Today we spent the night in a surprisingly beautiful place, in a small town in the Czech Republic. I woke up in an old house, looked out the window at the mountains and felt guilty, because I am in peace, security, without sirens, shots, explosions, and my family in Chernihiv is in terrible danger every day and cannot leave.”

Friday, March 11 almost midnight:

“News from Ukraine is impossible to watch. Every day information about new atrocities. People who manage to escape from bombed-out cities cry when they tell what they saw on the road: destroyed, burned houses, dead bodies just on the streets. For several hours now I have had no contact with my mother, brother and grandmother. I am terribly afraid.”

Earlier in the week, Tanya summed up her conflicted emotions over her escape from a war-torn homeland. “I want Ukraine to win and we are back to hug our loved ones and rebuild our lives. Here we are — going nowhere and want to go home.”

Hold your home in your heart, Tanya, along with all those millions of other refugees fleeing for safety from the unprovoked devastation and destruction that they leave behind. We pray for your people’s safe return someday soon as we stand united in freedom for Ukraine.

Will Thault is a retired Albany businessman whose travels have led him to many memorable adventures.