Klara Semenivna woke up on February 27 and saw 9 tanks with the letter “Z” under her own house. From that moment, the real hell began explosions of military equipment, shell bursts and flames in the apartment.
On that terrible day, the woman together with her sick husband Valeriy and neighbors ran into the yard to hide from the shooting and explosions. They could not find a bomb shelter – they hid somewhere else. Then, when the fire calmed down, they returned to their apartment.
The couple lived without communications. The date on the calendar was March 2. The temperature in the apartment was +7 degrees Celsius. The woman recalls that it was so cold that the water in the corridor turned into ice. Therefore, normal hygiene could be forgotten.
«There were no electricity and gas, but there was water, can you imagine? However, we did not wash. It was very cold you could easily get sick. We wiped ourselves with napkins. For me, as a woman, it was just terrible. Nevertheless, I was not thinking about myself. I have a sick husband, I needed to take care of him. We are from Donetsk. He worked at the mine for 30 years. It took away all his health. Therefore, I was constantly worried that he would not catch a cold when I was “washing” him. Thank God, we had enough clothes, so I often dressed Valeriy in warm clothes».
Mrs. Clara said that a few blocks away from her lived her son Dmytro with his wife and small child. The woman decided to give them all the food supplies. She paid a neighbor to take the food and check on her family. They were alive. She felt relieved and happy.
Since there was no electricity, the food she had left for herself and her husband in the fridge had spoiled. The potatoes were cooked on the fire in the street.
“Food supplies for a month and a half: 10 boiled potatoes, crackers. We cut 1 potato into 4 parts. A quarter was eaten by my husband, a quarter – by me and one cracker. Because we ate so little, we had no strength even to walk”.
It was dangerous on the streets of the city. You could not even go out into the yard to heat water for tea. If you did not run to the entrance in time, you could lose your life. Russians even shot at civilians. Klara Semenivna saw such cases with her own eyes. Therefore, she did not even hope that her son would be able to visit her. She could only pray for the children.
However, after some time, Dmytro was able to reach his mother on a bicycle. He brought food and informed her that the evacuation of Mariupol residents from Berdiansk was planned. The son agreed with an acquaintance that the man would take his mother and father to the place of evacuation. He could not go himself. Because of the explosions, his car broke down, so there were not enough seats for the whole family. It was a hard decision for Klara Semenivna, but she decided to leave.
The way was hard. Evacuation took place, according to the lists, which thousands of people wanted to get on. They gave 80 buses and 24 minibuses. The woman barely managed to be included in the lists. She constantly thanked heaven for good people.
The location, day and time of evacuation were constantly changing. Sometimes they did not know where to spend the night or how to get to the right location. However, good always returns, so the people who were helped by Mrs. Clara, found her and brought her to the right place. So they ended up near the Lunachar ring, near Berdiansk.
Riding in the bus was harder mentally than physically. The children were screaming from hunger. They spent the night in the steppe. The next morning, March 24, further evacuation to Zaporizhzhia was planned. Berdiansk was one of the first cities captured by the occupiers. They felt the power, constantly delayed the evacuation time, created dangerous situations for the departure. However, we managed to get out. Moreover, not only Mrs. Clara and her husband.
“At three o’clock they gave the command to leave for Zaporizhzhia. Moreover, I see that there is a column of cars behind us. People are driving their cars. Then my son called me. I could not believe my eyes. He managed to reach me, said that he and his family were alive, and they were driving behind us. We managed to escape”.
The occupants took jewelry and money from civilians who were leaving in their cars. They did not touch people in the buses, just checked their documents. The road was long. Every 5 kilometers there was a checkpoint. In total, Klara Semenivna recalled 19 checkpoints that they passed in 9 hours.
The first thing she saw was that the outskirts of Zaporizhzhia were completely shelled and the houses were burnt. Despite this, Mrs. Clara, her husband Valeriy and hundreds of people in the buses felt safe. The evacuation organizers brought people to a safe place, fed them hot meals, arranged a place to sleep and registered them as IDPs. Later, Klara Semenivna’s family moved to an apartment, which her friends helped her to find.
The woman recalls those times with tears in her eyes. Every day she thanks God for her life and for the kind people who saved her.
“I want to thank all Ukrainians who help us, IDPs, and bow low. I do not know how we stayed alive. There must be a God”.
