A Ukrainian woman's story of escaping the war
By Galyna SoloveiThe author is a senior lecturer at the International Relations Department of the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy in Ukraine.
![Galyna Solovei's eldest daughters Maria, 16, and Sasha, 14, on a train from Berlin to Amsterdam as they flee Ukraine following the outbreak of war between Russia [GALYNA SOLOVEI]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2022/03/18/028ef039-9476-437b-922f-d92da11aeb76.jpg)
Galyna Solovei's eldest daughters Maria, 16, and Sasha, 14, on a train from Berlin to Amsterdam as they flee Ukraine following the outbreak of war between Russia [GALYNA SOLOVEI]
On Feb. 20, my German partners at the University of Jena wrote that they would not attend an offline workshop scheduled for mid-March due to the “tense situation” on the Russian border. It really made me angry. There is nothing to be afraid of, I thought at the moment. After all, this tense situation has persisted in Ukraine since 2014. We were already used to it. I honestly did not understand them.
On Feb. 24, the war began. I heard explosions at five in the morning. The Igor Sikorsky Kyiv International Airport, which was a few kilometers away from my house, was bombed. For a person who had never heard an explosion, it felt like it was happening in my neighbor’s yard. We will stay in Kyiv, I thought. At 10 a.m. that day, I had an online lecture with third-year students. It was a virtual class, but only six out of 50 students joined. They all lived in western Ukraine. They told me that their classmates from the east, south and northern parts of the country were under evacuation with their families. The west and central parts of Ukraine still seemed safe to me. We didn’t have a normal class that day. I just talked with them and said how smart and beautiful they were, that they must save themselves for the future of Ukraine, and that we will soon meet again.
The next three days in Kyiv were tense. Rockets destroyed buildings in what used to be peaceful neighborhoods, all shops were closed, missile alerts continued and curfews were imposed. Staying in Kyiv became an undue risk. So I bought the last train tickets from Kyiv to Lviv, the most western city in Ukraine.
![Solovei, left, and her classmate, Geert Slabbekoorn, at the KDI School of Public Policy and Management (KDIS) in Sejong](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2022/03/18/6d539e2a-f213-4790-ac04-879966385810.jpg)
Solovei, left, and her classmate, Geert Slabbekoorn, at the KDI School of Public Policy and Management (KDIS) in Sejong
During the war, the subway stations in Kyiv have become bomb shelters. My girls and I reached the Olimpiiska subway station, and from there we traveled to the central railway station. While waiting for our train to Lviv, I received a message from Geert Slabbekoorn, a former KDIS classmate, who said that his parents in the Netherlands had a free room and were ready to provide shelter for my family. I responded that I was very grateful, but that I would stay with my friends in Lviv.
Our train to Lviv arrived, and the crowd rushed madly toward it. There were soldiers with machine guns on the platform who did not allow men to enter the train. Only women, children and the elderly were allowed. Fights broke out. I managed to squeeze in with my daughters and place them on the top shelf of the compartment. It usually takes six hours from Kyiv to Lviv by train, but it took nine hours that day, as we had to stop mid-way for the attacks to end.
Lviv was full of refugees by the time we arrived. Volunteers offered us warm meals, tea and coffee. I had the address of my friend's house where we were supposed to spend the night, and a volunteer gave us a ride. I knocked on the window and we were let in. The house had two rooms and there were already four people inside. Everyone huddled together, and we drank tea, ate sandwiches and fell asleep.
The next morning, I heard the same sirens in the city of Lviv, which meant there was the same chance we could get bombed or attacked by a missile. It became quite obvious to me that my girls and I needed to leave our country. I wrote to Geert, saying we would like to accept his offer to come to the Netherlands. Decisions were made instantly.
That evening, there were traffic jams on the roads of Lviv, and we barely made it to the bus that would take us to the Polish border. There were only women and children on the bus. After crossing the border, everyone had different paths. Some were moving to France, some to Italy, Germany and Spain. We were the only ones going to the Netherlands.
![Solovei at a refugee shelter in Poland](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2022/03/18/f03cfa3f-2995-497a-abd3-cb4c2bbdacb7.jpg)
Solovei at a refugee shelter in Poland
The next morning, we took a bus to the train station. The European Union provided free travel for Ukrainian refugees, but there were so many refugees that we barely managed to find a spot in the corridors of the train cars. We arrived in Warsaw six hours later, standing throughout the entire ride. In Warsaw, we bought free tickets to Berlin.
![Solovei’s youngest daughter, Anastasia, 9, at a refugee shelter in Poland](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2022/03/18/972c8511-4a75-42b7-a809-1de02e8137da.jpg)
Solovei’s youngest daughter, Anastasia, 9, at a refugee shelter in Poland
![Solovei and Slabekoorn at Slabekoorn’s parent’s house after Solovei and her three daughters took shelter there to escape the war](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2022/03/18/7c950fec-cbf5-46c0-a4f3-2a9734be0eb4.jpg)
Solovei and Slabekoorn at Slabekoorn’s parent’s house after Solovei and her three daughters took shelter there to escape the war
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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