Pictured above: Lydia, Sasha, Arseniy, Misha, Tania, Agnia, Ksenia, and Taya with Anke’s parents Irmihlt & Karl-Dieter Bodack.
16 year old Agnia Kolodezeva tells her story. March 8, 2022
I was about to graduate from the Waldorf School in a little town near Kiev. I woke up on February 24th to explosions near Vasilkow, a military airport. My friend called me and explained to me and my parents that bombs from Russians were exploding. No one thought that a war could start. We had no plan and turned on the TV and monitored the news. We thought it would be like the 2014 crisis and thought this maybe would stop in one day. Then I was sitting in my apartment on the 5th floor trying to relax, when there was very loud sound near my house and I thought it was the end of my life. I put my hands over my head it was so loud. I was crying and the only thing that helped me was that one of my friends was saying that this was a famous pilot, called “the ghost of Kiev” who struck more than 30 Russian fighter pilots. Then another explosion. We ran away from our house and heard a lot of sirens. We ran to our school, but it has no basement. We stayed there for 5 days and slept in the sports area. We then went back to the apartment and we packed a few belongings. My friend had a little house, so we drove there. But there were also more explosions in Kiev and in the little town. My dad was talking to the main man of two formed military teams. He said they had no walkie talkies, but my dad had 5 walkie talkies which they exchanged with us for 20 liters of gas. There was a lot of stress around Kiev where Russians were trying to take most of the large roads. We were very scared because the town we were in was wanted by the Russians as it connects Kiev and Odessa. We decided on the 4th day that we maybe needed to go to western Ukraine. We found Lidia, Sasha’s mom. I wanted him to take my cat, because I was planning to leave. But he said they are also leaving. So we decided to go all together in 4 cars, also taking a few handicapped children with us.
Agnia with her friends Taya and Alexander (Sasha).
On the first day we went 500 km. The road was very dangerous and also because of robbers and murderers taking advantage of the situation. Also, Russians agents have been forced to go to the Moldovan borders. The first portion of the trip should have only taken 5 hours, but it took 20 hours. We only had 20 liters of gas and there were lots of traffic jams. We found a gas station in a village with a lot of people in line. It’s currently a rule in the Ukraine that you can only buy 15 liters of gas at a time. But we found a woman who gave us some more. Then we found a church school where we were able to sleep. Near the Moldovan border, we found more gas. This border crossing was only 3 hours. Then we came to a Waldorf School in Kishinev, Moldovia where we were able to stay overnight. Then we drove to the Romanian border and waited in line 10 hours to cross the border in another 3 hours. We then were only 3 cars left, as my stepdad had to stay in the Ukraine. Men between 18 and 60 years old have to stay to help fight the Russian army.
We crossed the border near Yassi, where some kind people booked us two nights in a hotel room. We then continued through Moldovia, through Deva. We stayed in a fantastic hotel run by 3 woman, called Villa Missy. They are also friends of the Waldorf group. Then we arrived to Vienna, Austria. Our friend in Switzerland helped us get there.
My grandparents are still in a hot spot, near Russia and Belarus. My grandfather is 80 years old. He took his bike the other day to bring a bottle of milk to his sister, who is also 80 years old. He saw hundreds of Russian tanks and weapons in the center of his village. He fell off his bike and a soldier with a gun requested his phone, which barely even had any service. He threw it on the ground and destroyed it saying, “be happy I did not kill you”. They live in a village near Desna which has railway to Russia and Belarus, which is why the Russians want the village. They were building their own bridges because they are afraid the other bridges will blow up on them. There is no way to stop this process. The town now has been on-and-off taken between Russians and Ukrainians.
Russian ‘sabotage’ groups are trying to take over the continental part of Ukraine and Ukrainian military forces are trying to keep their territories under control. There are many cases where Russians are raping young girls and woman and then killing them.
Gostomel, which is the biggest military airport, is the hottest spot of the battles. They are trying to take it.
It is so scary to hear about that. I am so scared and feel guilty that I am not there. My family has discussed the situation a month before. Her teacher had asked what the worst case scenario would be. We thought may be a revolution, but never imagined being bombed form the sky. I feel proud for those young man who are in the territories of defense. They have also made many check points during the first days of war. Now they are bombing everything. There is now way to get out now, it is very scary. Also lots of shootings at cars. They also have lots of Russian officers from Chechnya, they call them “saviors”.
In Romania a woman at the reception was asking me how I was coping, all I could do was cry. I am not sure.
There had been 2 wars also in Chechnya with years of bombing with the Russians. Now they are thinking that the Ukrainians are rivals. The Russians are still taking about an activist form the 192o’es, it became a noun. It was an activist and how dream was to gain independence from Russia. His name is “Bandera”. It now has become a noun.
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From Anke, the owner of Twelve Senses Retreat:
The group had dinner at Anke’s parents house and 6 spent the night, 3 were able to stay in a local hotel my dad organized them and 3 went to my sister’s house. Their journey then continued on to Switzerland and then we are hoping they can find places to settle for a bit.
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