March 14, 2022 News

The bombing took away the life Alyone had known

"I felt like I was in a movie, I had never experienced war before," says Alyona Sushko, who fled bombed-out Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine. She woke up to the war. Alyona and her mom were hiding for a few days but then decided to seek safety abroad. Find out more about her story.

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Waking up to the war

Twenty-six-year-old Alyona was awakened by a rumble. The walls of her apartment in Kharkiv were shaking. She thought her neighbours were throwing a huge party. But ten minutes later, after a phone call with a friend, she realized what was going on. Not a party, but an attack by Russian soldiers. She quickly packed her belongings in a backpack and then risked a trip to the other side of town, where her mother lives. 

Her life as she knew it has changed

Alyona spent several days hiding in the basement with her mother. But even there, they did not feel safe. "We could barely breathe in the basement. We were afraid that a pipe full of hot water that ran through the room would burst during an attack," she recalls. "On the third day we heard tanks driving through the nearby streets, and on the fifth day we started running out of food." They were following the destruction of the places around on social media.

A few weeks ago, Alyona had a job she loved. She worked at an international firm that designed 3D models of buildings. She and her colleagues would eat Mexican food after work and watch movies on Netflix. 

She realized that the life she knew was over. "All I wanted to do was cry. And run away. But not alone, I wanted my mom to come with me," she says. But she didn't want to leave her hometown at the age of fifty-three. It was hard to say goodbye.

Train ride during the dark, next stop: safety

Thousands of people were already waiting at the train station. In the chaos, no one knew the train schedule. Alyona was lucky and in two hours she boarded a packed train heading to Lviv. She had a twenty-six-hour ride ahead of her. Alyona spent it squeezed between other fleeing passengers, she was barely able to move. The train was dark for the entire ride so the lights would not give it away.

"We heard bombs exploding several times along the way, and we told the children travelling with us that it was just the rumble of an approaching storm," she recalls. "As we drove through Kyiv, we saw broken windows and destroyed houses."

When the train arrived in Lviv, Alyona had something to eat for the first time after a long journey. Volunteers at the station prepared food and hot tea. She then spent long hours waiting for the train to get to Poland. The 80 kilometres journey took her 19 hours. Accompanied by crying children, the train moved cautiously and stood still for most of the time. 

Stop in Poland

When Alyona arrived in Przemysl, Poland, she was taken in by volunteers from the local Caritas Poland. Tears welled up in her eyes. A firefighter escort took her to a nearby school. She found refuge in one of the 80 beds that the Caritas volunteers had set up in the school’s gym.

"The help of the volunteers was admirable. I only had the bare minimum with me but there again, for a while, I got everything I needed at the moment," she says. "They tried to kill us at home. I never expected to feel so helpless," she explains.

The help of volunteers gave her the strength to continue her journey

Alyona plans to get to Canada, as her brother lives in Montreal. She speaks English very well herself as she worked for an international company.

So a few days later she found herself at the train station again. This time in the much more calmer atmosphere in Poland, waiting for a ride to Germany. Alyona was still in contact with her mother Irina, who stayed in Kharkiv, by phone. She tried to persuade her to flee too, but she was not ready for such a step.

Alyona is terrified. The bombing in Kharkiv is getting worse and there is not enough food. She hopes that the whole family will be reunited. She does not care where, but she hopes it will be in Ukraine.

 Help the people of Ukraine on their journey to safety.