Column of a refugee: "We Ukrainians are learning many new words - saboteurs, power failures, bunkers, shelling"
Created: 03/18/2022, 05:12
By: Natalia Aleksieiva
Natalia Aleksieieva fled from Odessa to Munich on March 7.
Here she reports her experiences.
© Marcus sleep
Natalia Aleksieieva fled the Ukraine war from Odessa to Munich: In her column she reports at irregular intervals about her new life in Bavaria and news from home.
I've been in Munich for eleven days now - and I'm so happy that I'm finally safe.
Every morning in the family chat I find out how my parents are doing.
My hometown of Odessa has not yet been hit by mass attacks and is considered a city in Ukraine that was almost untouched by the occupying forces.
At the same time, the enemy from land and sea is getting closer and trying to encircle the city and set up a blockade.
Air raid sirens wail several times a day and explosions can often be heard from afar.
Everyone is used to it by now, the Ukrainian air defense works.
Fled from the Ukraine: How Natalia Aleksieieva experiences her first days in Munich
About the author Natalia Aleksieieva
Natalia Aleksieieva (27) fled from Odessa to Munich on March 7.
She has received a lot of help and is currently living with a host family.
Your goal is to be able to stand on your own two feet as quickly as possible.
In her column she reports about her new life in Bavaria - and about the news, the situation in her Ukrainian homeland.
She writes her texts in German.
Read the story of Natalia Aleksieieva's escape from the Ukraine war here.
All information and articles on the situation of refugees in Ukraine in Bavaria can be found on our topic page.
Life in the Ukraine War: We learn many new words - saboteurs, bunkers, multiple missile systems
Since the beginning of the war, many new words have appeared in the lives of us Ukrainians that we did not need before: saboteurs, blackout, curfew, deserters, bunkers, shelling, green corridor, multiple missile systems... Now this is our reality.
We get news through local Telegram groups.
(By the way: Our Bayern newsletter informs you about all the important stories from Bavaria. Register here.)
We Ukrainians don't give up
There are official calls from the authorities and military reports, information about curfews and orders in cities, news about interrogations of prisoners, videos of destruction, abandoned equipment or the dead.
The scenes of shelling of civilian objects are frightening: residential buildings, kindergartens, schools, boarding schools, gas stations, churches, zoos - everything is destroyed.
The news of abandoned animals brought to the Czech Republic by student volunteers is particularly heartbreaking.
I saw a photo with this caption: "Grandmother saves a kitten.
The soldiers save the grandmother.
In the background: Irpin is burning”.
We Ukrainians don't give up.
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Green Minister Robert Habeck wants to react with a "great effort".
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I only get all these scenes from messages and conversations with my parents.
In my first days in Munich, I got to know a lot of people.
My WhatsApp inbox is full of messages from people offering to help me, even though they hardly know me.
I can't thank you enough for that.
People have helped me to get to Germany from the Ukrainian border, others let me live in their house, help me with advice and the recognition of my documents.
The people here have such big, kind hearts.
I will never forget them and never stop being grateful.
Although I'm in Germany, I feel much closer to my homeland Ukraine than if I were with my relatives in Russia, for example.
And that has nothing to do with geography.
