OO: <\/strong>This war is of course terrible, much worse than it was in Donetsk in 2014 after the Russian Occupation \u2013 we left our homes back then. Now it is full scale war. In 2014 the Russian military were coming after us, so we had to run. First of all we believed we could fight the Russians back but soon realised we were beaten already. So, we took our car and went to Ivano Frankivsk, 1300 kilometres to the west \u2013 about as far away as we could run. We drove through the whole of Ukraine from the East to West.<\/p>\n\n\n\nSometimes, thinking about then and now, it is so hard. But if we are just talking about me, I am an optimist. I am always trying to be positive, trying to do something, try to help people, to build shelters and not get depressed but to act \u2013 therefore I don\u2019t feel like it\u2019s hard for me personally now but sometimes of course like anyone I just break down \u2013 my friend lost her husband \u2013 how could we not weep? We are human.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We need to prioritise. For example, yesterday two young men they came to me, and I printed for them Volunteer ID cards so they can drive through all the roadblocks. (Olga has set up a local print service herself as no such service is available in the village). So, if somebody asked them \u2018why are you not at war?\u2019, they can explain why they can\u2019t go to the war and say but they have cars, they can help people. They bring people from danger zones to Ivano Frankivsk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
MG:<\/strong> That\u2019s great Olga. So how dangerous is it where you are? Yesterday you said the sirens started \u2013 is there bombing in your area?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Air Alarm App posted on by Olga on Facebook \u2013 allows instant alerts across Ukraine by Ciivil Defence System.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nOO: <\/strong>No, this is mostly safe, maybe one of the safest places, because we have no strategic targets of interest here for the Russians and we are at the furthest limit from Russia, close to Poland.The other thing that makes me feel safe is that I\u2019ve experienced all this before. The Russians hounded us out of our homes in Donetsk and I\u2019ve observed the Russians closely for 8 years since and somehow, I feel I know Russia very well. I know their tactics. I know how they do things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\u201cFor me, of course it\u2019s horrific but it\u2019s not as terrible as it is for those people who are seeing war, fleeing war for their first time. I have seen it before. I was ready for that but not those who are newly internally displaced. Yesterday it was more than 14,000 IDP people came to Ivano and so it\u2019s much more \u2013 it is bigger than it was in 2014 when numbers of displaced people was like 4000.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\nMG:<\/strong> Yes and figures of Ukrainians leaving the country across the western border, according to BBC this morning was coming up to 750,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\nOO: <\/strong>Yes, people here are so afraid because this is their first experience of war and maybe because we are so close to Polish border, but I feel quite safe here and confident about our resistance.<\/p>\n\n\n\nMG:<\/strong> On the news in UK they highlight the great courage and bravery of Ukrainians and the challenge they are giving to Putin and the Russian forces who didn\u2019t expect such a big fight back. Equally talking about the numbers of people leaving the country and UNHCR estimates that between 4-7 million people are expected to leave Ukraine and go to neighbouring countries or countries where they have family here.<\/p>\n\n\n\nOO: <\/strong>So many of us were displaced from that first wave \u2013 people like us don\u2019t we don\u2019t want to go anywhere anymore. I just want to stay here. Moving home again after 8 years it\u2019s difficult because we are just getting our lives started here.<\/p>\n\n\n\nMG: <\/strong>I understand that, and you know when you think back to your experiences of war and Donetsk \u2013 you said you were already exposed to war and Russian attacks and you built up resilience?<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s not physical resilience, it\u2019s mental and emotional<\/em>\u201c.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\nOO:<\/strong> I guess we developed some resilience because when we left our home place in 2014, my parents stayed there. Being separated, of course, I was hungry for news and every morning, every evening, I was reading and reading the news. That\u2019s why I started to understand more in politics yeah started more analyse all these things – develop my \u2013 how do you say – media literacy \u2013 so this is my personal experience and it helps me help others. Now that\u2019s why it\u2019s different in Ukraine because now they hear the bombs. This time the Russians want all of Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\u201cAs displaced people we know how to organise shelters very quickly. We know everything about what to provide, how to talk to people, what they need, so many things and even we guessed and counted how many people would come to Ivano \u2013 somehow you understand what they are going through\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n\n <\/figure>\n\n\n\n <\/figure>\nDonations pouring in from Poland to help internally displaced Ukrainians<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nOO: <\/strong>Everybody does what they can. Everybody is doing something. I used to offer online psycho-social support for displaced people. Now I just see what we can do. We help people to find houses here in our village. I talk to Polish hosts who will take those who want to cross into Poland. I have friends there. We inform them about what they need to start buying before the refugees arrive. We also request supplies from Poland and elsewhere \u2013 special things for our army \u2013 like medicines and so many different things. My young son and friends are sitting the whole night and the whole day in front of the computer and they find clever ways to hack the Russian side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\u201cWe are conducting an information war from our living rooms\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\nYou know and it\u2019s really good because I see how strong his ideas are, how strong his plans are with his friends they always try to do something cool and then he\u2019ll call me \u2013 \u201cmum, mum see what we did!\u201d Some people they don\u2019t know how to use a computer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\u201cOur kids are so clever \u2013 you know \u2013 they help the army with geolocation data \u2013 they get cars to help people escape, they get food. They care. They have a voice. They get organised here so it\u2019s really great. I am so proud of my people and proud of my son and his friends and proud of this work<\/em>\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\nMG: <\/strong>I\u2019m so proud of you too Olga \u2013 so much respect for you because what you\u2019re doing is amazing and I so admire your fighting spirit you\u2019ve got such a brilliant attitude but it must be really, really, tough and you are so exhausted \u2013 all of you. But that solidarity that friendship is like gold and it\u2019s so strange that at the most terrible times, sometimes find a friendship and humour even in a way that you never expect or don\u2019t have in ordinary everyday life.<\/p>\n\n\n\nOO: <\/strong>Ukrainians try to make jokes because generally we are a positive people and we can\u2019t live without a bit of humour even during this war, trying to smile, trying to joke to have some a little bit fun with fakes on Facebook \u2013 ha ha \u2013 giving suggestions to mess up Russian tactics like for the Geo location devices to mess with the Russians to make life more and more difficult. Even our children draw humorous pictures of Russian army as clowns \u2013 it\u2019s a way of dealing with the horror. One of my friends\u2019 son drew this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mum does art therapy with her son who drew this \u201cdickhead\u201d Russian military clown, <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n