In March 2022, the Gazette reported on John Green, an Overton man who had escaped from Ukraine just before the war broke out. With the help of friends, the 27-year-old established a station in Slovakia to aid fleeing Ukrainians.
Recently, he returned to Ukraine to witness the current situation. Here is his account of life in Ukraine since the war started.
With airports out of action, I travelled by road to Kyiv, stopping in Lviv en route. The capital is significantly safer than it was, and the missile defence systems comfort many.
Much of life feels similar to before, with crowded streets, bustling bars and usual traffic inside cities. Not all is as it was though.
Air raids are still prevalent. The sound of sirens tolls frequently, and a mobile application provides alerts that sound in tandem.
READ MORE: Overton man escapes from Ukraine days before war
Sirens are sounded for different reasons, often as a cautionary measure when there is movement in Belarus, as well as more direct threats like drone strikes or missile attacks from the Russian border.
During air raids, the public are encouraged to head for the nearest shelter or, if not available, somewhere where there are two walls between you and outside.
Having dealt with this for over a year, most locals now continue going about their business when air raids begin.
I take more precaution and generally stay in the corridor until the app declares the situation stable. On one occasion, an air raid was declared as Iranian-made Shaheed drones had entered the country’s airspace.
Whilst most of them were destroyed in the air, nine people were killed that night in Kyiv region.
Reminders of the ongoing war are everywhere. In Lviv, old missile shells are displayed in the street.
In Kyiv, one of the central squares features an exhibition of destroyed Russian tanks and bombed civilian vehicles.
Spots that were hit by missiles are made evident by the different-coloured concrete, and many buildings that fell victim when Russian troops were in the city have not yet been repaired.
Maidan, the centre of Kyiv, has a sea of flags commemorating those who have died. In all cities, monuments are fortified to ensure cultural heritage is maintained.
The country understands that they are at an important stage of the war. Continued support will be necessary for a decisive victory and locals feel as grateful to their Western partners now as they did before.
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I was surprised to speak to people who weren’t as directly supportive of Zelensky’s government as I assumed all were.
Friends from Mariupol saw his early indecision as the reason their city was left to take the brunt of Russia’s actions in the early days.
Yet most agree that he has found himself as a heroic wartime leader, a Churchill-esque figure without whom the country would have not received the level of attention and support it has.
What will happen next is uncertain and depends on many factors, as the people here are aware.
Despite this, they remain brave and resilient, firmly backing their military and believing that, whilst the present is bleak, the future is bright. Being here, it is hard not to feel the same.
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