A Ukrainian woman living in London says she has barely slept since Russia declared war on her country, and has begun each morning “by checking my family are still alive.” Speaking to MyLondon at protests in Whitehall yesterday (Saturday, February 26), Marina, 35, described how her life was turned upside-down when Russian forces invaded Ukraine on Thursday (February 24).
“I’m feeling very bad today,” she said, as crowds of her fellow Ukrainians and allies gathered and chanted behind her during a second day of anti-war protests close to Downing Street in Westminster. “My family are in Eastern Ukraine,” said Marina, whose voice broke as she added: “Every day I’m basically starting my morning by checking they are still alive.”
She went on: “I’m lucky because I still have connection with them, unlike many people here. There’s a channel I’m following about what’s happening right now, created by residents of Ukraine. Right now it’s been bombed by 15 missiles, just right now… it’s so terrifying.”
Marina, who has been living in London for over two years, was at the protests all day on Friday as well as Saturday. She went with her friend, who, like many of the other Ukrainians who turned out to protest, was too emotional to talk. “Everyone was crying yesterday,” said Marina, who added: “but today we’re all out of tears.”
(Image: Leon Klein/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
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She looked emotional and exhausted as she explained she has barely been sleeping since the first attack on Ukraine early on Thursday morning. “It’s like an hour, two hours,” she said, adding: “then I wake up to check news, then maybe get two more hours. Once you’re in shock, your body mobilises, but you’re constantly stressed so you can’t relax.”
Marina’s family, including her mum, her father who lives with his other family, her 17-year-old little sister, and her elderly grandmother, are all based in Eastern Ukraine, right on the frontline of the war-zone. Asked how they are feeling, she replied: “I don’t know what to say… They don’t want to die. They’re really proud of Ukraine at this stage and I think that keeps them going.”
She added: “After I talk to them I can hear that they’ve been crying, but when they talk to me they don’t want me to worry too much – so they try to pretend they haven’t been crying.”
(Image: Leon Neal/Getty Images)
There is still a palpable sense of disbelief among Ukrainians, and Marina explained: “Nobody thought it was going to actually happen. We couldn’t believe it on the first day. You see it on the news everywhere you can’t believe it. It was surreal.”
She added: “We can’t believe we’re being bombarded right now. In some areas people can’t even stay in their homes so they’re sleeping in the underground, and will have to stay there for up to 3 days. What do you eat? What do you drink? How do you sleep? Especially with children.”
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Marina is staying as up-to-date with the action on the frontline as possible, through social media and various video and news channels set up by Ukrainians. She looked fiercely proud of her country as she added: “Regular people are fighting now… Regular people disarmed [a Russian machine] yesterday.”
The Ukrainian woman said the “scariest thing” is how much misinformation she is seeing on Russian media. She explained: “Russian websites post news about the the Ukrainian army and it’s just on all of their news channels, saying it’s done by Ukraine. So in their minds Ukraine started this war and they’re killing their own people.”
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