The story of Olena Karpenko from Chernihiv, who survived the fight for the city

On the morning of February 24, 2022, Olena woke up, went to the kitchen, and heard a siren. She immediately understood that it was not a test, but a real siren. A few days before, Olena had a bad feeling. Even her son, who worked in Kyiv, came home on February 23.

A few minutes after the alarm, Olena heard explosions somewhere in the distance. She woke her son up and said, "Sasha, the war has begun." She looked out the window and saw people running out of the neighboring houses with possessions and children. When people started getting into cars, Olena became even more afraid.

The explosions became more frequent. Olena and her son gathered their things and documents and went downstairs. Together with their neighbors, they went to the basement and began to arrange places to sit there.

Over the next few days, Olena spent most of her time in the basement, only going out to get groceries. Then the missiles began to fly more often, destroying the city’s infrastructure, and striking the local power plant. Power, water, and mobile communication disappeared. Later, the heating also went out.

Almost the whole time, Olena spent the nights in the basement, because it was dangerous to remain in her apartment on the fifth floor. Sitting in the basement, Olena and her neighbors heard whistling sounds of shells flying and exploding.

Enemy planes were flying and dropping bombs. Olena saw a plane that dropped a bomb on Gagarin Stadium. It flew just over her house. The walls in Olena’s apartment shook from the blast wave.

Olena didn't plan to leave Chernihiv, but her son insisted on it. On the way to the evacuation bus assembly point, Olena saw the destroyed Hotel Ukraine, the wrecked Main Post Office, and bus stops where the windows had been blown out. There was destruction everywhere and debris lying around. It was a terrible sight for her.

In the end, Olena left Chernihiv not by bus, but by car with some kind strangers. On her way to Kyiv, Olena saw shell casings and burnt cars. In Kyiv, she got on the train to Lviv, although she did not know where she would stay and what she would do.

Another woman from Chernihiv was traveling with Olena on the train. She told how her daughter and son-in-law were killed in front of her. On March 12, the woman was standing on the threshold of her house when an enemy shell landed in the yard of their house. Her son-in-law had his leg torn off and died immediately. Her daughter was wounded in the stomach and died later. Her grandchildren received shrapnel wounds in the legs, chest, and jaw. The woman had to evacuate with her grandchildren as quickly as possible, leaving the bodies of her daughter and son-in-law near the house.

“I probably shouldn’t say this, but I hate them (Russians). I believe that every reasonable person is able to understand simple things: that their sons, their children, their husbands have come and just killed. Killed our children, our sons, our husbands...

What can I say? They don't get it anyway. Their brains are clogged with all the things that have been pounded into them for eight years. They have already been shown Bucha, Hostomel, and Irpin, and they don’t believe it. What can you talk to them about? I just hate them," Olena says.

Olena’s son is currently serving in the Ukrainian Armed Forces of Ukraine, and she is keeping hope and waiting for victory.

This material was created based on testimonies collected by documenters of the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group.