“In the morning, we received news from intelligence that the city might be surrounded by the Russians and we have an hour, maybe an hour and a half, to leave the city. We left for Lviv quickly to buy supplies and barely had time to take the last bit of fuel at the gas station in Kyiv. The road was difficult, but it was necessary to return to Chernihiv as soon as possible and not empty-handed.
When we arrived in Lviv, time was short, we had to pack our cargo and quickly go to Chernihiv as we promised that we would return with help. Department nurse Maryna and doctor Olya, as well as other nurses, were able to leave with us, but they decided to stay to help those who were in need. There was a lot of different information and everyone was afraid, just like us. Everyone knew that it could be a one-way ticket. Our cars were already ready, my friend Vadim, whom I met by chance in Kyiv during COVID, will give us his jeep for evacuations. Roma and I were the first in the column so that we face the threat first.
We left. We spent the night in Kyiv and we were ready to go to Chernihiv in the morning. Intelligence had given us information that we could change the route to use less fuel. Our usual route looked like this: Kyiv-Kipti-Vertiivka-Kulikivka-Anisiv and Chernihiv. It was impossible to go in a straight line (Kyiv-Chernihiv) because Russian troops controlled the villages around Chernihiv and part of the route to Kyiv. We were offered to turn not at Kiptye, but later, near Topchiivka. They informed us that the area there is safe. Near Topchiivka, the Russians fired the first shots at our column of 6 vehicles, then fired the first Grad artillery shots. Houses on both sides began to be erased into thin air, we increased our pace and got stuck between concrete blocks that were installed by the military. When we turned back onto the road and drove fast, a second round of Grad was fired at us, but we were already far away, at a safe distance from reach. After a couple of minutes, two trucks appeared, followed by about 60 cars with families fleeing from Chernihiv. We screamed at them to drive back, since the Grad would shoot at them when they entered the highway.
Accompanying us were really brave people who were ready to risk their lives for the sake of others and who felt that it was their duty to save those who were in Chernihiv and could not leave. We drove through Anisiv. There was an open field that you could drive through only when there was no UAV “Orlan” in the sky. The Russians adjusted the barrel artillery and MLRS to destroy everything in a matter of minutes, because in the fields of Anisov everything was visible and there was no shelter. When we were driving through the field, a big van, a Mercedes Sprinter, got stuck. The van was filled with the bodies of dead men and it got stuck. We helped push it out, and after 10 minutes it finally got out and we drove on to Chernihiv.
The admin in the Children’s Regional Hospital already knew that we were under fire, and when we arrived, the people from the ward ran to greet us happily. We were glad that we survived and we recorded this journey for ourselves, but still, the best such trip is the one from which there is nothing to remember.
Medication, food, hygiene products and a bit of hope were unloaded from our cars, that is so important for a good reason. Dinner and rest awaited us in the old basements of the hospital. I slept next to the nurses, whose beds were near the old toilets, because there was no more free space. The heavy air, the old small TV screening the news and fatigue were always with us.
There were about 30 people in the room, including children. It was clear from the eyes of the people around them that they were already used to this. There was terror in the air, because people couldn’t imagine how this could happen. We were waiting for a miracle, a miracle from the AFU. We all became closer to each other because of our common grief. After a few hours, fatigue made me fall asleep.
Then morning came and we had to leave. We knew that we had to leave as soon as possible as we did not know how much time was left in the window to leave.
We loaded people into empty vans, put sleeping bags on the floor, and asked the parents that when they heard the driver’s command, they would immediately put the children on the floor and cover them with their own bodies. This was the sum of all my fears and a cold feeling lived in me. Sasha Vonarkh, a volunteer, shouted that there is not enough time and we must leave now. “Orlans” were constant visitors over the city at that time and adjusted the coordinates for the artillery fire. We formed a column, therefore we were a target. Those bastards do not care who was in our vehicles. We did not believe that the inscription “CHILDREN” on cars might save us, but out of habit we kept writing this word. A woman pediatrician tagged along with us in one of the cars. I asked her if we could count on her if someone sustained an injury during the trip. She replied that she did not know how to stop bleeding, she only knew how theoretically. I thank medical universities for high-quality doctors and proceed to sort the seating for the children in buses.
After the departure was delayed for 30 minutes, we decided to start our trip.
After almost 10 minutes, a cluster munition exploded nearby, and the explosion killed people in a house next to the hospital. Some fragments of the cassette munition pierced the doors and windows. The people inside the hospital miraculously survived. Nurses called me on the phone and started to shout that a rocket had hit nearby. These 10 minutes saved us, the children, and the parents accompanying us.
Our journey to Kyiv’s main train station took 4 hours. We helped the people unload their belongings. Everyone had their own stop as they searched for a safe place to house them. We also had to go back to Lviv for supplies. Later, the next journey will commence…”
