The editorial board created SVOI project to tell the stories of IDPs and refugees.
Direct speech
I remember that day, my daughter wanted to buy our flag. We went outside, and she said, "Mom, I'm Ukrainian." She took this flag everywhere with her, she was so happy. And then we realized it all started ... My husband said that we should pack our things, because they would come to us soon. At first, we didn't believe it, we thought they didn’t care for a small town like ours.
Read here "I covered my daughter with myself": Kharkiv resident Yulia told about escaping from the city
40 cars were standing on the track. And they just did not let us go. People with small children went to negotiate it, and they were told: "We don't care if you have children or not, you will all stay here." So we slept on the track.
My daughter asked why we could not take the flag with us. I said, "Because it's very dangerous. And it's a shame. But it’s okay, we'll buy another one."
When we got to the first Ukrainian checkpoint, where there were our soldiers, they opened fire on us. I am not good at this, but as the military explained to us, they fired from machine guns. The firing became more intense and we were told, "Quickly get in the car and get out of here."
