Inna Šulzhenko We Have Waited Nine Years For The End Of This War Our Faces Have Become Old

Inna Shulzhenko does not know what to say or write now "Today, for some people, it has been a year and one day since the war in Ukraine," he begins.

"They say it started on February 24, 2022 But for many, like me, it started in June 2014.

We have been waiting for the end of the war for nine years" Inna Shulzhenko goes back in time in her mind and describes what she went through at the beginning of 2022, when In Dnipro, where he lived and worked, life was apparently still calm and normal "My husband and I had visited our friends in Rubizhne, Lugansk region, and on the way back to Dnipro, I remembered how in 2015 we drove the same road with Estonian documentarian Vahur Laiapea, who made a film there," Inna recalled.

"And then Vahur called and said that he would like to come to film again!" At the beginning of February last year, just a few weeks before the 24th In February, they already traveled with Vahur Laiapea again in those front areas close to Donbass.

Met with civilians, military personnel, mothers of children killed in the war, former and current military personnel "God seemed to have forgotten these places.

My head was spinning from all this, we spent the night in terrible and cold places And I really had no idea what the coming weeks would bring to Ukraine.

That this horror, in which the people of Donetsk and Lugansk regions have had to cope since 2014, will soon engulf the whole of Ukraine!" February 24, 2022 will definitely go down in history, Inna Šulzhenko knows that But his feelings, like those of many other Ukrainians, are mixed when he thinks about it.

"I don't expect a quick end to the war, sometimes it seems to me that I have accepted that the war will go on and on," he said "I just live like many people.

And Vilnius has become a home for me and many other Ukrainians " Inna, who lives in Vilnius with her daughter and adult son, says that she talks to her husband Pavlo, who stayed in Dnipro, every day, and when they talk, they try to joke.

"But our faces have become old," he says sadly "We cannot plan our lives, we have no way to think about the future.

I have to come to terms with the idea that I can stay here in Lithuania for a long time It's not easy - different culture, climate, food, laws» But is there anything beautiful there? "Yes, of course," answers Inna.

"We, Ukrainians and Lithuanians, knitted a whole bag of woolen socks and hats for Ukrainian soldiers here " There are also many concerts in Vilnius right now, but Inna has no desire to take part in them.

As if he lacks strength He doesn't even know what he wants Is unhappy that his son Ivan, who has been studying in Lithuania for several years, recently told him he was coming home from school.

"Mom, we don't have enough money, let me go and work better!" the young man has told his mother many times Inna worked very hard to convince him.

"Sometimes I'm so scared that I can't sleep at night," Inna says "But today, for the first time in nine years, I wore vyšývanka, or clothes with Ukrainian embroidery.

I miss vacation so much, to be able to visit Ukraine again » Read Inna Šulženko's stories from Dnipro, Warsaw, Vilnius, Lviv and again from Vilnius, Lviv and Vilnius.

These stories begin from the first day of Russia's large-scale aggression that you can't sleep at night," Inna says.

"But today, for the first time in nine years, I wore vyšývanka, or clothes with Ukrainian embroidery I miss vacation so much, to be able to visit Ukraine again.

» Read Inna Šulženko's stories from Dnipro, Warsaw, Vilnius, Lviv and again from Vilnius, Lviv and Vilnius These stories begin from the first day of Russia's large-scale aggression.

that you can't sleep at night," Inna says "But today, for the first time in nine years, I wore vyšývanka, or clothes with Ukrainian embroidery.

I miss vacation so much, to be able to visit Ukraine again » Read Inna Šulženko's stories from Dnipro, Warsaw, Vilnius, Lviv and again from Vilnius, Lviv and Vilnius.

These stories begin from the first day of Russia's large-scale aggression .