Ukraine, The escape of Dima and Zoya: “We became refugees in one night”

They are young, beautiful. Until eight days ago they had a perfect life: ski holidays in Switzerland, chic autumns in Amsterdam, sparkling dinners. They became refugees overnight. “Nobody expected an invasion of this kind. We must now resign ourselves to conjugating verbs in the past tense: perhaps our life in Ukraine it is over forever ».

Dmytro Bova said Dima and his wife Zoya, 37, decided to leave Kiev on the third day of the war, the first of bombings on the capital. They packed the SUV, took their three young children and, after 4 days of travel, they arrived in Italy, guests of Sandro Bottega and his partner Monica Lisetto, owners of a famous winery that produces Prosecco in the Treviso area.

He is the CEO of an electronics company, and has been informed by his employer of this possibility. “I had visited Italy as a tourist, I don’t know your language but I want to say that we are receiving unimaginable affection and support”. The children test play and normality in the courtyard, his wife Zoya is almost petrified in silence. «It is in shock, we have the whole family in Kiev. And now it’s hell in the city. ‘ This is the new generation of refugees: an excellent level of education, a good standard of living. AND an interrupted existenceabandoned affects, a chronology of emotions that suddenly turns around.

One of my children has diabetes and he needs constant insulin injections ”, explains Dima,“ that’s also why I left ”. He traveled armed in a flak jacket to the Polish border. He has brought his children to safety thanks to a law that allows those with at least three to leave the country, but he says he is broken. “I think of my friends who are fighting there. Here I am organizing aid and accommodation for refugees ».

Dmytro hears from his parents every three hours. “They wanted to stay, I can understand them: a sudden war is too much for them. My father is a former soldier who is coordinating the voluntary forces ». Dima instead chose to escape, when she realized that the war was becoming a serious matter. “I left when they dropped weapons near the airport, these are lethal devices. We couldn’t wait ».

Source: Vanity Fair

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