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Iryna Yezhela, in Ukraine a seesaw of terror and hope

2022-05-22T15:22:33.315Z


The editor-in-chief of the Ranok publishing house talks about her escape at the Turin Book Fair (ANSA)


(ANSA) - TURIN, 22 MAY - Iryna Yezhela, editor-in-chief of the Ranok publishing house in Karkhiv, has concern and pain in her eyes, from where she ran away with her cat, leaving her husband, who enrolled in the army, and his parents.


    "My husband can't say where he is for security reasons. He tries to keep me calm and says that we will make it, that we will survive, that we will continue our struggle for independence and we will succeed. He is trying to reassure me. I have read the news. today like all of the bombs on Karkhiv.


    They are all very discouraged, it is a seesaw, hopes, fear, terror and then a return of hope.

Many have become volunteers, they try to do their best to return to peace "tells ANSA Iryna Yezhela, who is now in the Netherlands, hosted by friends, and today is at the Turin Book Fair, special guest of an event 'Da Kharkiv an Italian-Ukrainian book to build bridges' organized by Il Castoro who published 'Il custode del bosco' with a double Italian-Ukrainian text.


    "I am extremely worried. I was born in the Donetsk Region where I spent my childhood. We have hopes for peace but what I see is the opposite. I hear that this war will last another year. I hope that by the end of 2022 we will reach a resolution of the conflict, but the fact is that the East is occupied at the moment and the South of Ukraine is also occupied and therefore it is difficult to make predictions "explains the editor-in-chief of Ranok which means aurora.

"It is one of the largest publishing houses in Ukraine. Karkhiv is one of the Ukrainian publishing capitals, I remember how it all started on February 24. At 5 am we woke up with explosions and the whole building was shaking We didn't have a plan, we took everything we could.

We absolutely did not expect what happened.

At first we thought of taking refuge in the subway, but then we preferred to go to the home of relatives who have a basement.

At the beginning of the war there were great communication difficulties, the Internet and telephone connection did not work.

We thought that everything would be resolved in a kind of blitzkrieg, in two or three days everything would be over.

On the other hand, things got worse with ever more intensified bombing.

At that point my husband and I thought about leaving Karkhiv with the evacuation trains, a very dangerous thing because we knew we were possible targets "says Irina and is moved, she can't hold back the tears." We were in Kiev when they started to bomb the railway trains.

We could all just lie down on the ground.

It was the most terrifying experience I have ever lived.

The convoy managed to continue on to Lviv and my husband said, please cross the border, get out of Ukraine, there were rockets everywhere.

He stayed and joined the army.

There is martial law so men have to fight.

I found temporary refuge with friends in Holland, now it is my base "says Irina, who wants to return to Ukraine." It is my land, I miss it very much.

Now I have a roof but we are Ukrainians and that's where we want to go back.

We didn't really expect what happened. "

please cross the border, get out of Ukraine, there were rockets everywhere.

He stayed and joined the army.

There is martial law so men have to fight.

I found temporary refuge with friends in Holland, now it is my base "says Irina, who wants to return to Ukraine." It is my land, I miss it very much.

Now I have a roof but we are Ukrainians and that's where we want to go back.

We didn't really expect what happened. "

please cross the border, get out of Ukraine, there were rockets everywhere.

He stayed and joined the army.

There is martial law so men have to fight.

I found temporary refuge with friends in Holland, now it is my base "says Irina, who wants to return to Ukraine." It is my land, I miss it very much.

Now I have a roof but we are Ukrainians and that's where we want to go back.

We didn't really expect what happened. "

Now I have a roof but we are Ukrainians and that's where we want to go back.

We didn't really expect what happened. "

Now I have a roof but we are Ukrainians and that's where we want to go back.

We didn't really expect what happened. "


    'The keeper of the forest' was unable to go out to Ukraine.

"Ranok had thought about it at the beginning of 2022. We wanted to present him at the Arsenal in Kiev which is a great book fair, similar to the one in Turin. It is a book of pictures about a boy, about a peaceful world and we hope we can go back to this "says Irina showing the images of a soothing landscape contained in the register.


    However, the register was published in Italy with a double text and the proceeds will go to the Refugees Welcome Italia Association.

"It is a political, symbolic gesture" she adds.

Arrived in a short time to the second reprint, with already 2,500 copies sold - explains Renata Gorgani, editorial director of Il Castoro - it is a story of nature, tranquility and peace which is what Ukrainian children need "


Source: ansa

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