Silvana Pilipenko spent 26 days without contacting family members in Brazil until she managed to flee and return to the country. Married to a Ukrainian, she had lived in Ukraine for 13 years and was at home in the city of Mariupol, one of the first to be attacked by Russian troops.
In an interview with CNN RadioSilvana reported that she “believed that the war would last a week and that, because of the situation of many dead, the presidents [da Rússia e da Ucrânia] would come to an agreement.”
However, what we saw was, gradually, resources being cut. “The internet first, then energy, water, gas and we were completely out of communication.”
“I stayed there for 32 days and the situation only got worse, with the Russians taking space and we were targeted, houses near my building were blown up, I saw fire rising, smoke, constant shooting, missiles, planes dropping bombs,” he said.
According to her, it was possible to hear the noise of the bombs, but “we couldn’t see and only the explosion came, the buildings shook with the impact and I thought: ‘it’s going to collapse’.”
Silvana stated that there was a curfew at 6 pm, but before that she and her husband were looking for water 1km away, in a river: “We were looking for specific areas where the bombing was not intense, it was dangerous, but we were not trapped, we were looking for wood, We made wood fires outside the building, we had to go out to find sustenance.”
The Brazilian said that one of the most tense moments happened when Ukrainian soldiers set up weapons to shoot from the side of the building where she was with her family.
“It was very dangerous for us, from that direction the Russians had precision equipment and they would know where those shots had come from, they would shoot back, it was a moment of nervousness.”
Silvana and a neighbor then talked to the soldiers, who “were cornered and nervous”, but agreed not to shoot from the spot.
Source: CNN Brasil
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