‘Nobody understands what war is until it knocks on your door’: Yelyzaveta was displaced by the invasion of Ukraine

365 days have passed since the beginning of the war in Ukraine. More than 8000000 people (according to UNHCR figures) have been forced to leave the territory and resume their lives away from home. Such is the case of Yelyzaveta Voroniuka 28-year-old woman came Mexico for several months to try to rebuild what the war had dynamited.

“Nobody understands it’s a war until the war knocks on your door. I don’t wish anyone to go through the experience: when your parents, your loved ones, when your house is destroyed, your whole life is destroyed, your plans for the future, your past, your family, your friends. Absolutely destroyed everything, in a second, in a day, you can’t imagine how terrifying and impossible to overcome it”

In an interview for GlobeLiveMedia Mexicoand as part of the year of the invasion, Yelyzaveta recounted some of her experience after the February 24, 2022Russian troops will cross the border and begin shelling major Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv there Bright—.

Although she has decided to leave the country, her family is still in the territory, so uncertainty and helplessness are now part of her daily life.

“In Ukraine we joke that we can buy nuclear weapons, we can order planes, but we can’t convince our parents to leave their housesince Ukrainians (and older people even more so) are very attached to their land, to their homes, to the territory where they lived”.

Yelyzaveta’s father is a reflection of this situation: he is over 70 years old and has never left his country, so it has become impossible to persuade him to leave his house, his farm, his land.

“Unfortunately young people are leaving, we are trying to work and survive abroad, but of course we are very worried about our parents and relatives who cannot leave Ukraine, who cannot leave because they have never been abroad, because their age makes it very difficult to change society,” he explained.

This is the scenario that Yelyzavet had to learn to overcome, namely being far from her country and her parents, from whom she receives intermittent news, because communication has been complicated, especially due to the situation. with electric power supply.

When Ukraine was attacked by Russia, the World Health Organization (SGD) reported more than 700 attacks against sanitary facilities, personnel and transport vehicles – this can affect the power plant, causing power outages that can last up to a week.

If the family of Yelyzaveta is already prepared with candles and stoves in the absence of light, this is not the case with communication, since it cannot be restored until much later.

“Sometimes for three or four days I see that my father was not online, so I go to the news to more or less see where the bombs are coming from on those days and thus check that, where (his parents) are, everything is fine.. This way I try to calm down and I think everyone is fine but it’s very difficult. When I wake up in the morning, you can’t imagine how much I can to be happy for a message: “We are well, they gave us light. They’re like ten letters, but they give me incredible calm”

In this sense, Yelyzaveta assured that the decision to come to Mexico was difficult, but she has a clear objective: she seeks to help herself, her family and her country.

“We can’t sit around doing nothing, (coming to Mexico) was an option on how to move on with my life, because the war destroyed all my plans.”

The woman said she was grateful for the support received from Mexico, but repeated that Ukraine still needed support: “Do not forget us”, concluded.

Until February 25, both the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (ERS), Marcelo Ebrard Casaubbonas Mexican Ambassador to the United Nations, Juan Ramon de la Fuente, condemned the invasion; however, so far the Mexican government has decided not to apply any economic or political sanctions against Russia.