The day earlier than Russia invaded Ukraine, Iryna Zemlyana made herself a pleasant breakfast, went to her favorite restaurant and noticed her closest associates.
She went to her workplace to get necessary paperwork and to the dentist to seek out out what to do about her braces in the course of the conflict. Her dentist laughed when she requested if there was a plan.
However 34-year-old Zemlyana, who has been coaching journalists to courageous robust conflict situations for eight years in the course of the conflict in Ukraine's east, needed to be ready and knew the battle would escape quickly.
"I simply actually knew that it was the final day of peace," she mentioned. "I requested my excellent good friend to have lunch with me. And we went to my favorite restaurant and I ate my favorite dishes and I simply knew that it was the final lunch."
Fears had risen that conflict was imminent that week following Russian President Vladimir Putin's speech on 22 February, when he claimed that Ukraine was not a sovereign state.
Zemlyana went to her workplace on the Kyiv-based Institute of Mass Info to collect paperwork and first support, gathered her emergency bag, mentioned goodbye to her house and stayed with a good friend on the opposite facet of Kyiv -- in an space from which it might be simpler to flee.
She could not sleep and when she began listening to explosions within the metropolis on Thursday, 24 February, she waited a number of minutes earlier than waking her good friend.
"I did not need to disturb the peace," she mentioned of these final moments earlier than she fled.
Exhausting for folks to imagine there is a conflict
Zemlyana and her good friend had made an evacuation plan beforehand, so she was prepared to depart Kyiv instantly.
Her bag was packed a month earlier than the conflict began, despite the fact that she says some had mocked her, blaming her that getting ready for the worst got here from adrenaline.
As she evacuated Kyiv, she acquired a message from her therapist who she was presupposed to see later within the day. She instructed him she hoped to see him once more sometime, however he responded by asking her if she would miss her appointment.
"Are you able to think about it is already began, however folks nonetheless do not imagine that it is a conflict?" Zemlyana mentioned.
"Folks did not need to imagine, it isn't as a result of they're unhealthy. It is simply that they did not need to imagine it might occur."
However Zemlyana, who was energetic within the Euromaidan protests in 2013 mentioned one a part of her had been getting ready for this second for eight years. The opposite half was apprehensive and hoping this would not occur.
"I've two components of me, in fact, one half is a refugee who needs to cry and do not know what to do on the following day and the way I'll dwell, however I am fairly optimistic," she mentioned.
Zemlyana is now doing what she will be able to in Warsaw to proceed supporting journalists on the bottom in Ukraine and the army there. However for now, she does not have work in Poland.
"We are going to win or we'll die. Folks is not going to dwell in occupation. It is inconceivable for Ukrainians. So I am certain we'll win," she mentioned.
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