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"We Had Heard A Lot About The War In Other Areas Of The Ukraine, But I Had Never Experienced It Personally Until One Day, We Were Attacked"

I recently met a woman called Anna who is from a small town near Kyiv in Ukraine. We have a little chat.

11/07/2024

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Ruth Silbermayr

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I ask her: “When did you come to Austria?”
She says: “I came here two years ago.”

"We Had Heard A Lot About The War In Other Areas Of The Ukraine, But I Had Never Experienced It Personally Until One Day, We Were Attacked"

“Where are you from in Ukraine?”
“I am from near Kyiv. We had heard a lot about the war in other areas of the Ukraine, but I had never experienced it personally until one day, we were attacked, and I experienced 24 hours of war. Our government then made rescue efforts and we could get out of the area. I am originally a lawyer, but I cannot work as a lawyer now.”
“Where did you go after the attacks?”
“I then lived in a village in a different area of the Ukraine. Since it was a village, finding work there was very hard.”

“Do you have children?”
“I have one daughter who is ten years old. I also have two cats who I could take with me from Ukraine to Austria. My cats are both still very traumatized. We never thought we would ever have to experience war. This war reminds me of the Second World War. Growing up, we never thought that something like this could ever happen again.”

Have you ever met people from Ukraine?

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