The Millions Of Civilians In Need Of Humanitarian Aid In Syria Are Bracing Themselves For Dwindling

Sound by/Звук від: @/lucydoodles

My first contact with Tumblr. Eyes diverge.👁

'Am' is a short form of his name ok...

Мій перший контакт з Tumblr. Очі розбігаються.👁

24.02.2022.

The day that changed my life forever.

24th of February 2022 should have been my usual day. No, not usual. A wonderful day. I should have been checked with a doctor, gave notice to teachers in high school of my absence, and then fly away on vacation, my parents wanted it so much.

On 23rd of February 2022 I felt happy. I had a secure, happy life, preparing to finals, hanging out with my friends, already having an offer from university.

Until 5AM 24.02.2022.

I had not a single class in my school since then.

I haven’t seen my friend group in 2 years.

I didn’t have my finals.

We did not have that vacation.

“Daughter, wake up. This old psychotic man attacked us. We are leaving.”

That was my first photo of the day, trying sarcastically keep myself normal. I remember that actual emptiness, reading my classmates texts about how their windows were shaking because of explosions, the sky was orange. They sent that video.

He called it “a special military operation”.

I collected random clothes, some hobby stuff just to keep my sanity, grabbed my pet, emptied my safety locker. I was scared that russians would intrude into our home and steal all my savings, so I throw away key to that lock. This key became my symbol of war, I have never found it even after return.

When I with my parents and pet got out of flat to car we heard for the very first time air raid siren. We would hear so many more of them, we would learn to differentiate them, but then we were confused.

It was my second photo. People were going away. Foot, cars, bicycles. I remember such a surreal picture. Some moms were carrying their toddlers, one woman was carrying a bucket of water with turtles, other people were carrying cages with parrots, with dogs, with cats, with exotic pets despite air raid siren, temperature, rain. Everyone was so confused and scared.

Few days later the road we were riding was occupied. Bridges destroyed. Factories burnt. Supermarkets demolished. Houses in ruins. Road in holes. On the side of the road burnt cars with “DO NOT TOUCH, POSSIBLY EXPLOSIVE”. That gut wrenching feeling seeing photos of dead bodies and recognising the place.

But back then it was still lively, not a road of death. I remember reading news then. First victims, first shelling. Invasion from East. Invasion from Kharkiv region. Invasion from Crimea. Invasion from Chernihiv. Invasion from Zhytomyr. And we were in Zhytomyr region at that moment. Explosions in Kyiv. The border was destroyed.

I felt nothing. Just emptiness.

This precious girl was keeping my head cool all the road. She was also scared and irritated, but she was so strong, such an amazing girl. I am so proud of her.

We were heading to my grandparents who lived closer to West Ukraine, so we would be safer. The road that takes usually just 4 hours but that time it took 13 hours. 13 hours of driving exhausted and nerved. We saw soldiers, trucks, jets, how barricades were built, signs were removed.

But we made it. We were lucky. Lucky to be alive, to have family alive and mostly close to West, further from russia. Even though, part of my extended family still was under occupation in Chernihiv region, suffering from such close border with belarus.

When we arrived, we were just silent. Then collected mattresses for shelter, asked grandpa to grab some patrol (we knew that they would definitely destroy reservoirs and literally next day the started doing that), and just fell asleep in something that we arrived in, being so scared.

That day I also cut ties with russian friend who I am shamed to admit having. He was proving me that this is just a military operation, no one would be harmed.

Then, arrived spring that I will never forget but at the same time never remember. I remember 10 people in one floor house. I remember the whistle of rocket that woke us up. I remember sirens. I remember news. I remember losing hope. I remember first photos after deoccupation of Kyiv region. I remember how forgotten friend of my dad suddenly called him saying that his city is fully destroyed, his neighbour right on his eyes was exploded attempting to get into the car and evacuate.

I remember my first mental breakdown. How I was crying in the darkness, but quietly so no one would notice.

We were able to return home three months later. But we are just lucky. Someone would never return. Someone is not even alive to see their home again. Someone’s home is forever destroyed.

I was lucky that I have secured my place at foreign university before war, but my whole family is still in Ukraine.

War is not over at all. 20% of Ukraine is occupied. So many displaced civilians, so many deaths. No one could even count, we do not have any access to bodies. Only way to identify is to deoccupy and find mass graves. No other means. Children are suffering from PTSD even in such a young age. Almost in every city, big or small, you would find graveyards covered in Ukrainian flag, grave of the soldier.

Maybe media does not talk that much of us, but it doesn’t mean that everything is alright. Avdiivka is destroyed, right now operation searching for people under debris of the civilian house after attack is undergoing.

And this is happening all the time.

Who was punished for Olenivka? Who was punished for destruction of Kakhovka Dam? Who was punished for all fully destroyed cities? Who was responsible for all that absolutely atrocious videos torturing Ukrainian soldiers?

Please, remember, Ukraine is still on fire. People are still dying. Soldiers cannot even counterattack because they do not have enough ammo, just for protection. Information war is also waging, sharing all that misinformation, Nazi narratives, russian propaganda.

Remember.

Help.

Share.

russia is a terrorist state.

Glory to Ukraine.

Glory to the Heroes.

Noor Harazeen you are the world's hero. You're completely correct, this is not normal. This is evil and no human needs to make these decisions.

No Genocide

Crimean Tatars in Ukraine commemorate russia's deportation of their entire population from their homeland from the 18th-20th May 1944.

2024 is the 80th anniversary of Stalin's ethnic cleansing of Crimea.

Sources:

The Kyiv Post

The Atlantic Council

OSCE

INKTOBER

Day 29: Navigator.

Day 30: Violin.

Interim Note

Hi everyone,

Thank you very much for your support. The whole family is heartwarmed over your kindness. We're still piecing together what happened and the next steps, but of course dealing with multiple governments and also OPSEC are complicating the matter. There's already misinformation about her circulating in the news cycles, so be very skeptical about what you read, even if it's a reputable publication. Russia's propaganda machine is very well-oiled at the moment.

Once we've got solid, sharable information, I'll post it here for you. That may take up to a week or possibly even longer, though. We've been warned through many channels that the Russian trolls keep watch for unguarded family statements.

That's not to say that her story won't be told! I intend for EVERYONE to know what a special, amazing person she was. I knew this from the moment I met her - it's why I married her.

Russia (Muscovy) is an evil imperialist nation, and this is largely unchanged since Catherine the Great. I rarely (if ever) use the word "evil", but it really is the correct usage in this case. I've been keeping a close watch on geopolitics over the past two years, and for the first time I'm hopeful as I observe Europe beginning to awaken, Japan and allies quietly preparing in the East, and America's backbone returning (despite the current socio-political instability and their awkward partnerships).

We will defeat this evil. We've done it before in Germany and Japan and Italy. Totalitarianism is doomed to lose.

Слава Україні. Слава вільному світу.

Please help the family of a non-verbal autistic child (who has been losing weight because he only eats certain kinds of food, largely unavailable during this time) leave Gaza!

gofundme.com

Help Aser and his family evacuate Gaza, organized by Mohammed Alassar

Hello, my name is Mohammed Alassar, currenlty living in Sweden and I am fundra… Mohammed Alassar needs your support for Help Aser and his fa

A Georgian man was killed by Russian occupiers on our own territory because he crossed an occupation line and literally no one will be held accountable because as always Russia gets its way silently killing Georgians for decades

I genuinely don’t even know how to respond to this. (X)

My favourite facts about crimean tatars:

The first ever institution of higher education on the territory of modern Ukraine was founded in Crimea: it was medrese of Khan Uzbek, founded in 1333. Currently only ruins remain of the building.

Crimean tatar women were the first in the islamic world to get the rigt to vote.

In 1917, the first Crimean tatar Kurultay (something alike to democratically elected parilament) included women.

Moscow used to pay tribute to the Crimean Khanate :)

In 2021, Örnek, the traditional crimean tatar orniament, was included in the UNESCO's list of intangible cultural heritage of humanity. (Learn more here and look at the beautiful examples)

One of the most prominent human rights' activists on the territory of USSR was a crimean tatar Mustafa Abdülcemil oğlu Cemilev. He spent 15 years in prisons for this. He would later become the head of Mejlis (the highest governmental organ of crimean tatars) and is currently a member of ukrainian parliament.

2016 Eurovision winner, Susana Alimivna Jamaladinova, better known by her stage name Jamala, is a crimean tatar.

Maidan, which is the general word with which ukrainian call the anti-governmental protests, is a crimean tatar word.

Cheburek is a national crimean tatar dish.