Stories from Bucha
Host
Victoria Ermolaeva
Guest
Larysa Bezuglova
The guest is Larysa Bezuglova, a resident of Bucha.
Larysa Bezuglova: We are now in Lviv. We were received by our friends, who are now volunteering, and they are hosting as many people as they can. There are several families here.
My family is lucky. During the first days of the invasion, our residential complex had light and water. We cooked food, fed people, invited people to use hot water. Because not everyone had such a luxury. People who came to us said, «Your place is so quiet and smells so good, as if there’s no war.» But in a few days, the light and the connection began to disappear. We were silenced. We were in an information collapse.
It was difficult. People became hysterical. A girl from my building really saw her illusory world. That is, a person starts to have psychological problems from the stress. Of course, we helped as much as we could.
Ukrainians are extraordinary. The residents of our building organized themselves. The men started cutting wood; lighting fires; finding a generator, which was passed from house to house so that people could charge their phones and cook. They ran to the 16th floor to get connection and to warn the residents.
Also listen to: Occupied and then «rescued»: the story of an interviewee who was taken to Belarus by the Russians and filmed on TV
We did not know about the evacuation. Because we had no information — the connection is very bad. In addition, we knew about the provocations of the Russian occupiers. So we didn’t know whether it was a real evacuation or not. To find out the truth, we had to go to our city council. I am very grateful to Bucha City Hall for achieving that «green corridor». It was very scary to stay in the city.
Also listen to: Do not cling on to your house until your last breath, save yourself: three stories of evacuation from the Kyiv region
Evacuation day is a day of uncertainty. There were a lot of people near the City Council who were just waiting and didn’t know whether the buses would pass or not. I don’t have my own car. I understood that I had to leave somehow. There was a column of cars, and I looked in a car and asked if there were free places where I could at least put the children. I just came and asked. There were many different people. Some people had room, but the «brothers of others» did not. I found. My family traveled in three different cars, one person at a time. Not together. It was very scary because you are tearing children apart.
The car I was driving in was fired at with a mortar. Even though the car was marked with «Children.» It turned out that on the way we turned in the wrong direction. I do not know how our driver was able to miraculously keep the car under control. Behind us was machine-gun fire. At that moment, the driver of another car, where one of my sons was, called me. I don’t remember exactly, but I shouted at him, «We’re being shot at. Save the children. » How we survived – I do not know. Fortunately, everyone is in one piece. Thank God we got through it.
I am a person who writes. It saves me. Everything we saw could just tear me from the inside. I wrote in my diary night after night in Bucha. I have not yet published my records. I will definitely do this on my Facebook profile.
Now we are helping those who stayed in Bucha. I help with finding missing people. If you need help, be sure to write. We will do our best.
Also listen to: «Russia erases Mariupol from the face of the Earth with people»: a resident who managed to leave
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