This International Women’s Day for Ukrainian women was completely different. This was the thirteenth day of the invasion of Russian troops into Ukraine. We are proud of our ladies who, even in such difficult times, remain strong, ready to share their stories and continue to work for the common good.
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Featured image: Queues of waiting cars at the Polish-Ukrainian border in Hruszów on 25 February 2022. Photo by Karina Sao/MTI/EPA/PAP
MobiDev helped me and my family a lot with moving out of Kharkiv. We couldn’t have done it on our own. We were driving in the evacuation bus, which was organized by the company. Every day forward from the 24th, I read messages from Andrii Melnyk, Сhief Security Officer at MobiDev, so that it was easier to filter the news and to have an understanding of a situation, resources, channels, steps etc. Before and during the moving process, Anna Karnauh, PM Group Leader, was helping a lot – with organization, reformation and other needs. Katia, Office manager supervisor, really helped us in Chernivtsi as well. She provided us with accomodation for the first period.
And then one evening we decided to go and crossed the border into Romania. Over there we got some help from volunteers and city authorities. They drove us to a point in the West, where our relatives met us and we drove to Slovakia. This is how we arrived in Bratislava. Now I’m back to work and doing my best to be helpful and productive for both clients and all my colleagues who stayed in Ukraine. Together we will get through this difficult time and become even stronger.
The most offensive thing that is happening right now is the information war. That’s why I’m going to tell you what I’ve seen through the eyes of an eyewitness.
Russia attacked Ukraine last Thursday at 5 in the morning, when everybody was sleeping. With shaking hands we started to call our relatives, lying on the bathroom floor because it was the safest place during the bombing. During the next 24 hours my family and I stayed in the metro station, using it as a bomb shelter. We were sleeping on the freezing floor with our sleeping pads and blankets. After the sleepless nights when we came back home, it was clear that we had to run away. It’s really scary that because of someone’s imperial ambitions I have to leave my home, knowing that it might be destroyed and my family might not get to their destination. But, who am I fooling, almost everyone who was trying to escape didn’t know what their final destination would be. We were driving nowhere, just dreaming that we had enough gas and luck not to get a shell in our car.Â
Now my beloved Kharkiv and dozens of other cities are being wiped out – the squares and houses are being destroyed, people are being killed. Does it look like denazification and demilitarization that the aggressor’s country is blowing up all around them?
We stood at the Ukrainian border for 50 hours, I was driving my car for 5 days continuously. It’s hard to imagine how I made it. But apparently during times filled with hostilities we switch on a superpower mode. At the moment I’m safe in Poland and I’m happy to get back to work. I am sure that if everyone does what they do best, no matter what, the enemies will not stand a chance and we will win.
In 2014 for the first time I acknowledged what war is. I was just 18, when I learned how to recognize the sounds of volleys and shells, learned how in a second to gather an alarm suitcase and find the right place to sleep in the flat.
8 years have passed from the very beginning of the war at Donbas. It seemed that Kharkiv started to be my native city, my second home, but…
The night of the 1st through the 2nd March became the worst night of my life. This night my district in Kharkiv was erased. My favorite shop with fresh bread was gone, the beauty salon, where I used to emerge feeling like a lady was gone, my boyfriend’s favorite cafe where he used to order some food after work to spoil me was gone. Also, neighboring houses, pharmacies, markets, shopping malls – it’s all gone. Many civilians and myself – we are gone. Â
If anyone is wondering right now, what gives me the strength not to fall into despair, I can answer that: my job. At the moment MobiDev is my home. It saves me from reality and gives huge support – for the first time in 8 years I don’t feel alone in this war. You cannot destroy the company with bombs, because MobiDev is about fortitude, a belief in the future and hope. And I sincerely believe that good will always triumph over evil and we will celebrate the victory as one big MobiDev family!
