The story of Solomiya Stebelskaya from Irpin/Collage of 24 channels
Solomiya Stebelskaya and her 2-year-old daughter Emilia were caught by the war in Irpin's home. The husband of that morning was tens of kilometers away. When he got home, the family decided to leave. To the sound of explosions, having collected the most necessary things in a bag, they headed to the Lviv region.
ShareFbTwiTelegramViberShareFbTwiTelegramViber
- 1″Kyiv is being bombed”, tears, panic and uncertainty: the war has begun
- 2Traffic jams, long road from Irpin to the Lviv region and help from loved ones
- 3In the entrance, 9 apartments were destroyed, in their place – a hole
- 4Exposure of the atrocities of Russians after the de-occupation of the Kiev region : shock from what he saw
- 5Desire to return home and unpreparedness for this
- 6Meeting and helping other migrants
- 7Meeting a new place and feeling “at home”
- 8The value of life and the need for evacuation from dangerous places
OWN. Stories of those who left to return
As part of the OWN project, Channel 24 tells the story of Mrs. Solomiya, her husband Pavel and daughter Emilia. The war forced them to flee their home in order to survive.
Kyiv and the region, February 2022. The offensive of Russian troops from Belarus and the Chernobyl exclusion zone, saboteurs, fighting, shelling, explosions. temporary occupation. And then the exposure of the atrocities of infidels in the Kyiv region. Bucha, Irpen, Gostomel. The names of cities and villages, which were associated with smiles, joy, pleasant memories, in the blink of an eye fit inexhaustible pain, tears, suffering, hatred. Such wonderful forests near the capital were filled with screams.
Solomiya Stebelskaya comes from the village of Migovo, Starosamborsky district, Lviv region. However, at the age of 16 she left to study in Irpin. She stayed there – got married, bought a house, gave birth to a daughter. Therefore, since 2011, the house for a woman is Irpen.
During the decree, Mrs. Solomiya is engaged in wedding accessories. He says that it is a hobby that gives great pleasure.
“Kyiv is being bombed”, tears, panic and uncertainty: the war has begun
How did February 24 start for you – the morning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine?
We brides communicated during January and February, on which to give to whom and what is needed. It so happened that on February 23, I had three huge ready-made wedding sets at my house. I was supposed to send them in the morning. She put the baby to sleep. My husband was working in Belaya Tserkov that day and stayed there overnight, and on February 24 he was supposed to return. We had plans for the day.
At midnight I was still finishing the last of the sets. And I went to bed very late, at about three o'clock. I didn't understand what happened next. For through a dream I heard something like thunder. Only later did I realize that they were actually explosions. It was about 4:20 on the clock.
Finally, I woke up from the ringing of the intercom. I immediately had the thought: who is this calling at 5 in the morning, probably someone unconscious, who does not understand that people are sleeping at this time. Then I picked up the phone – there were more than 20 missed messages from the man. At that moment the phone rang again and I picked up the phone. And my husband: “zaya, get up, we have a war.” In response, I threw a claim to him: “what kind of war, in our country it has been going on for 8 years, don't you know?” The man replied: “No, you don't understand – Kyiv is being bombed.”
Solomiya with her daughter Emilia/Photo from Solomiya Stebelskaya's archive
What were your first thoughts, actions, feelings when you realized that this was a war, and it was so close?
I am immediately in shock, tears flowing from my eyes. The man further: “open the door, the godfather has come, you have to pack your bags, go somewhere.” And we are without a car, we have a small child in our arms, who is 2.5 years old. We have not collected anything, there are only documents in the heap.
I have a misunderstanding in my head – where to run, what to do. My husband is ten kilometers away from me. I am with a child. There was nothing but shock and panic at that moment.
First of all, I ran and opened the door of my godfather Andrey. He is a former ATO member. He calmly looked at me and said: “Please don't panic. I will take you to my wife and 2 children.”
I began to ask him: “what's next?” He asked to collect things, in particular warm things for the child, because it was not known where we would end up. You might have to sit somewhere in the basement. He also said to put a bag of groceries. I hastily began to pack my suitcase, throwing everything that came to hand into it.
I could not connect the opinions. We heard several explosions. Then my legs buckled. Something panicky happened to me. Kum asked me to sit down and calm down. He asked if he could give me some valerian. I doubted if she would help.
Then I continuously made phone calls to a man who could not leave Belaya Tserkov. He rented an apartment there. An explosion followed. The husband immediately jumped to his feet. He said it was scary. He decided to go on foot to Akademgorodok (the distance is about 85 kilometers – 24 channels). Tried to find some way. Everything stood on the roads, people began to leave en masse, huge traffic jams formed. I really understood that as long as he came on foot from Belaya Tserkov, a day could pass.
Before lunch, I did not find a place for myself. We were waiting for a man. The child did not understand what was happening. When we left our entrance, a huge fighter jet swept overhead. She was just starting to talk and asked me: “Mom, is this a plane?” I answered yes. The daughter said she was scared. I reassured her with the words that I was with her. It was the only thing she could squeeze out of herself without crying.
This is how the kindergarten that Emilia went to looks like/Poslavska_photographer
Did you communicate with your family that day?
I called my parents in the Lviv region. I say to my mother: “we have a war.” Mom is crying into the phone, I'm starting too. To say that it was panic is not the right word. I realized that I might never see my parents again. For then no one knew what would happen next.
I have relatives in Kyiv, the military. They also started calling me. I asked what we should do. The most surprising thing for me was that even the military could not predict the course of events. They did not know what would happen and could not predict in any way that such terrible destruction would occur in Irpen, Bucha and Gostomel.
When did your husband manage to return home?
On the same day, the man, thank God, got home – under the planes, explosions. When he arrived, there were more gray hairs on his head. He was not like himself – he was terribly worried, his face was black. We rushed to him.
Next, we made up some of the most necessary things. From the products they took bread, pates, children's curds and yogurts. I also ran into the last open store, because everyone hastily closed them. I bought a bottle of water and a few juices for the child. And that's all. There was nothing else to buy. As we stood by the car, we heard several explosions. We ran quickly back to the house. Then we set off.
That is, you spent the first day of the war at home. Were they hiding somewhere and how did the child perceive it?
That day fighter jets were flying very low over our house. It was very scary – the whole house was shaking. I didn't know it was flying. This is our plane, not ours. At such moments, I picked up the child in my arms and ran to the bathroom. She looked at me with big eyes and asked why we were running somewhere. I replied that it was necessary. I did not want to say that a war broke out in the country. I didn't know how to explain this to a small child. Considering that even I, an adult, cannot fully understand this.
One of the streets of Irpen after the liberation of the city from infidels: Photo provided by Solomiya Stebelskaya
Traffic jams, a long road from Irpin to Lviv region and help from loved ones
What was the way from Irpin? Who helped you leave to get to safety?
We left in the evening, at about 5 pm, after the children's lunchtime nap. We did not plan to stay longer, because we realized that the Russians were already almost here, at our house. At first they planned to leave through Gostomel. But when the godfather Andrey was informed that a landing force had landed there, they realized that this path was no longer for us. It was necessary to look for an alternative.
Departure from Irpen took 2 hours. Under normal conditions, this path can be traveled in 5 minutes. The bumps were terrible. Helicopters flew over us. We heard explosions. They realized that military actions were already taking place somewhere in the Gostomel region. But not only there. The war was all over the country.
We left thanks to our friends, who kindly agreed to give us a lift to where they were going, we left too. Because we needed to go somewhere. But if our godfathers hadn’t taken us away or didn’t want to wait for my husband’s return, then it would have been so, we would have stayed at home.
All the way we drove 40 – 50 kilometers per hour, no more. It took us 15 hours to get to Rivne (under normal conditions – 3.5 – 4 hours). Relatives met us there and took us to their place. Slowly we got to the Lviv region. Stayed at my parent's house.
How difficult was it to leave your home and go without knowing if you would get a safe place?
What I experienced then This is the biggest fear in my life. I was worried not so much for myself as for the life of my child, husband.
But inside I had another spark: what next with work? I'm a workaholic, but here I leave everything, taking only the most necessary. All kits, tools, computers, everything I worked with – everything is in Irpen. And I'm leaving.
Then I had a lot of notifications from the girls. Some wrote: “hold on, everything will be fine.” But there were also those who demanded the immediate return of their deposits. Added to the stress of having to run away was worries about how to give people money.
How did you explain to the child that I had to leave?
When my child first asked me why we were running away, where we were going, I decided that I would tell him everything. But do it in a way that is not traumatic. At the same time, so that she knows and tells her children and grandchildren who Russians are, who Ukrainians are, and what this struggle is for.
At the entrance, 9 apartments were destroyed, in their place – a hole
Have you been at home after the liberation of the Kiev region from the invaders?
When the occupation was over, my husband returned home. He downloaded the most necessary things into the car – children's things and those of my tools that he could pick up.
Has your apartment been damaged as a result of bombardments, shelling? Has anything been stolen from the house?
Fortunately, our apartment survived. And all my work, everything that I had to send to people, for a large amount of money, everything was.
We live in a 10-storey building in the center of Irpen. Our porch suffered the most. It does not have 9 apartments at all, in their place is just a hole. Our apartment is on the 9th floor. But she miraculously survived. Around it, the windows are broken and cracked. And in our apartment – goals. Such power of God, faith, prayer, I don't know what else helped us.
But our neighbors, friends, unfortunately, were left without apartments. And all the property that was there was lost. The ceiling and walls have fallen. Although our house was new, it was handed over only in 2018. Other entrances were also damaged. This applies to both the roof and the facade. Balconies were blown up. We learned about the state of our house from the head of condominiums. She alone remained there.
The Russian army stood in front of our house, and the soldiers of the Armed Forces behind it. They had shootouts. Therefore, the building from the entire area suffered the most. All flying shells flew over our house. In addition, several cars burned down on the territory of our residential complex.
View of the house in which the family has an apartment, after de-occupation: Photos provided by Solomiya Stebelskaya
Exposure of Russian atrocities after the de-occupation of Kyiv region: shock from what they saw
When footage from Irpin, Buchi began to appear after the de-occupation . How was it to see such a disfigured hometown? What feelings did you have?
Some of the people shot in Bucha I knew personally. It didn’t fit in my head how things could happen in the 21st century. How can anyone attack a huge nation, country? Why did this become possible?
When I saw footage of little babies, a photo from the children's park in Irpin, where their mother and son were killed, it was abroad. We were crying as a family.
My dad is at the front now. He was wounded. Fortunately, he has already recovered and returned to the front again. Further to the front. All the horrors of the war I missed very much. In addition to the fact that I was actually at the very epicenter of the events, we miraculously managed to leave and not injure the child with even more terrible shots that took place there just a few days after our departure from Irpin. So even now, when we have experienced and felt this pain, there is another, when you are afraid that in one second you can lose your dearest person.
I helped my father a little company. His company commander's daughter and I opened a fundraiser for thermal stars, tents, raincoats and everything their company needed. I transfer money from each earnings to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Summing up, I can say that I experienced great pain and fear then. I still cannot understand how one country could attack the civilian population of another. Considering all these horrors, inhuman trials and torture that the Russian army performed on the inhabitants of Irpin and Bucha, I do not have enough words to describe my emotions. I think I will be in shock for a long time.
Desire to return home and not ready for it
Do you plan to return to Irpin?
To be honest, I'm not mentally ready to go back yet. When I imagine what happened there, especially on those trails and in the parks where my daughter and I went for a walk. Right now – I'm saying this, and ants are walking through the body. While I'm not ready to return.
We are waiting for the victory of Ukraine. I don't know if we will be in the Lviv region by that time, or if we will return a little earlier. The child really wants to go home. I understand that she aspires to her friends, to the kindergarten. I want to go home too. There is my apartment, all my usual days passed there.
Only now my husband and I realized what happiness it is to live in a peaceful country, in your own apartment, when nothing threatens you.
Communication with other IDPs and helping them
Have you helped other IDPs, for example, friends or relatives from the Kyiv region?
There were many settlers from Gostomel and Irpin in our village. We met after they were evacuated. They left on the 8th and 9th day of the war. Therefore, we saw terrible shots, destroyed cars, bodies of people. They were driving along the Zhytomyr highway. They were already shooting at civilians. After the meeting, we talked here, I offered them help.
I wanted to understand their emotions. They also left everything. Couldn't leave with everything they took. Because the road was closed. I even had to let the dog go. They left a lot of valuables right on the bus in the middle of the road.
As for our close relatives, they stayed in Kyiv, they did not even leave the city. We talked to them every day, we were very worried. This is my mother's sister and her husband. And their children came to us on March 7th. Here local volunteers met them. They stayed with us until the end of May. Then we returned to Kyiv.
Dating in a new place and feeling “at home”
You resumed own business already in the Lviv region?
Here, where we settled, I continue to work. There are some problems with logistics, because “Nova Poshta” is far away, we live in a village. But all the brides who wanted it received orders on time.
Did you manage to make contact with someone new or, perhaps, renew childhood acquaintances?
Yes, we succeeded. I couldn't shut myself in here. My child and I began to go outside, walk on the playground, communicate with people. The child made friends here. I started talking to their parents. Therefore, we now often gather in the evenings or on Sundays at church, go for a walk with the children. So yes, we found new friends as well.
You have repeatedly said that Irpin is your home. Do you feel at home here, in the place where you were born?
I do live in my parents' house. But the feeling of “home” I probably had only a month ago. I'm already used to being here. By that time, I felt like I was visiting. Although I lived here until I was 16, Irpin is my home. Because most of my conscious life was spent there. And therefore, when I invite my parents or friends, I say: “come to our house”, meaning Irpen. There my husband and I built a family nest. Our family starts from there.
< em>Happy shots of the family in Irpin/Photo from Solomiya Stebelskaya's archive
The value of life and the need for evacuation from dangerous places
Today, many, despite the risk to their lives, remain in dangerous places. What can you say to those who are afraid to leave their parents' homes? It seems to me that in this everyone decides for himself what is more important for him. I put all priorities on the value of the lives of the child, husband and mine. For me, it was most important that we were whole and healthy, and where it would be, I did not care.
We considered going abroad, but that was before the war. When we talk about this with my husband now, we understand that no one will let him out of the country now. Yes, he does not want to. If they give a summons to a man, he will also go to war. He is already set up for this.
In general, now there is nothing better for us than just returning to Irpin.
If there are no relatives in Ukraine and friends, a person closes himself and thinks that he will wait it all out himself. That it is enough to sit for a day or two, everything will stop. So I would like to say to such people: you can be wrong. Everything will end, but not as quickly as we would like. We all strive to win. But we do not know how and when it will all end. Naturally, everyone wants to return to everyday life.
We made our choice, realizing that we can lose everything we have acquired. But our lives are more valuable to us. Because we understand that it will be possible to earn money for everything material again, but you will not return life.
What will you do after the victory?
First of all, I would like hug dad, who will return to us healthy and alive from the war. Then the whole family will go to our beloved Irpin. There we will meet with relatives and friends. And we all definitely go to the picnic, which we planned a long time ago.
The enemy's plans to conquer the Ukrainian capital broke down because of the courage of the people. The Russians will never be able to capture Kyiv – neither the military nor the experts have any doubts about it. The region is slowly recovering from the experience. But it will be a long time to cherish in memory all the insignificance of Russia and the improbability of Ukrainians.
