February 24, 2022. The beginning of the war.

http://binovskaya.com/the-first-day-of-war-in-ukraine/

"Russian President Volodymyr Putin said that Russia will introduce troops into the territory of Ukraine. Putin said that Russia will conduct a military operation in Ukraine at the request of the self-styled "L/DPR", thus Russia will introduce troops into territories not controlled by Ukraine.

On the morning of February 24, Sospilny journalists report on the sounds of explosions in Kyiv, Kharkiv and other cities.

In the morning, Kyiv residents began to evacuate the city. Some went to the subway to avoid shelling, while others continued to walk around Kyiv. Suspilne publishes a photo report about what the day was like in the capital today.

There are almost no people in the city center. Volunteers hand out yellow and blue flags on Independence Square. The Dutchman Oliver also took one.

The subway is crowded all day, and most passengers have suitcases. The crowd was simply on the floor at the "Vokzalna" metro station.

"It's not scary, but there is panic. We started gathering today, then the sirens suddenly sounded and you know, we were gathering in one place, in the bomb shelter, and then there was such a sudden change of plans," says Olga, who came to the station with her belongings."

A sense of disaster hung in the air. The news talked about the war, but no one wanted to believe it would happen. When I talked to Sylvia about the possibility of this happening, she said to me: “How do you imagine this? Will people be running around the streets with weapons?!" It was impossible to discuss this topic with them.

Next to our house is the russian embassy. On the morning of February 21, Radu and I, as always, went for a walk to the sea. As we were leaving, I glanced at the flag above the embassy, ​​when we returned a couple of hours later, the flag was down. It was a signal for me.

It was often said on television that it was necessary to prepare an "anxiety" bag. It was impossible to do this with my Radu - as always, he denied everything. I took advantage of his absence and collected everything, documents, money, jewelry. Everything was ready.

On February 23, at 4 o'clock in the morning, I woke up to the sound of explosions. I wanted to believe that it could be a wild salute. But soon, in about half an hour, a long cannonade began. And I understood that the war had begun. Before that, we heard many times that russia was going to start military operations, but we did not want to believe it. Lately, we stopped watching news channels because their reports were mind-blowing horrors.

 But this morning it all started. I ran to the bedroom and woke up Radu, he jumped up and shouted - let's collect the documents. I reassured him, that I had already collected all the documents. All that remains is to pack gadgets and a few things for the road in a bag. Tracksuits and two small backpacks are what we soon went out with.

 I went on the Internet and saw that Silvia was awake, she was terrified and asked what to do. My first reaction is to hide the children. I say let's go to Olya (Kosta's mother, Silvia's husband) - she has a house with a basement. And half an hour later, Silvia said she was coming to pick us up. A state of panic. Terrible for the children.