Now we all know that life is divided into three parts. The first – pre-war – is already over. Memories of quiet and peaceful years of growth – personal and of the entire country – will remain there.
No one expected the second part. War seemed to have existed only in textbooks, movies, news from Syria. Even a week before the February invasion, we said: “Russia will not fight against us.” Who remembers this now? A few days later, a wave swept over a vast territory of Ukraine. Fierce, rowdy, ruthless. Too little time to make a decision. Everyone goes west. Your family is with everyone else.
Thousands of Ukrainians will not see the third part. The tragic counter is running. Military, civilians, kids, adults – death does not choose.
However, millions escaped. It is they who will meet the victory, restore the wounded country, remember the dead. There are millions of stories and none alike. There are some that beam out optimism.
They had great ambitions: running in the newly purchased car, redecoration, the start of a new football season. And most importantly – the wedding, scheduled for April 14 at the Kharkiv Central Wedding Palace. Everything was ready: a wedding dress and a tuxedo for the groom, invited guests, a scenario plan and a wedding photographer.
It was at their wedding in Zmiyiv where I met that couple. Without guests and a dress. Moreover, despite knowing so many people in the beauty industry, they tried to find at least someone with a camera who would photograph that significant event. I became that “someone” – I was “found” by our mutual acquaintance from the sports field. The bride and groom were in brand-name sportswear, and despite the tough times and a new city, they were in high spirits.
Tania Krasnohorska is a stylist, master of party (including wedding) hairstyles. Before the war, Kharkiv and Kyiv celebrities often used her services. Besides, Tania is an optician, biometrician, eyeglass specialist. On the morning of February 24, as usual, she had to go to work to help people see the bright colors of the world.
Yevhen Vdovenko is an athlete, soccer player, director of Metalist-1925 training base and sports director of the youth team of this club. On February 19, he met the main team that arrived from the training in Turkey. The team started preparing for a match with Shakhtar. The match was supposed to start the soccer year in Kharkiv on February 26, which was quite an event for a city “charged” with soccer, where Metalist is not about sports, but rather about religion.
On February 24, Tetiana and Yevhen woke up at 4:50 a.m. to the sounds of bombing. There was a blockbuster on in the windows facing the district road: shells flying from different directions, flashes, explosions… It was hard to believe that a real war was going on there, on the district road. Although Tania had some adequate relatives in Russia, who had warned her: Putin had signed a decree recognizing the “LPR” and “DPR”, and therefore war was quite real.
Zhenia went to sleep a little more, and Tania started to pack. Later it turned out that, besides the essentials, there were three metal sieves and a set of spices in the suitcases…
“I didn’t understand what I was throwing in the suitcases, I made some chaotic movements,” says Tania. “Although the documents were collected, we couldn’t believe that a war would begin!
They wanted to wait out at the training base in Vysoke, but that shelter didn’t prove to be safe.
A few hours later, the club’s management called and summoned Yevhen to the base. There were queues at ATMs and well-rooms, and the road to Vysoke took three hours instead of one, because people had already started fleeing Kharkiv.
Metalist-1925 senior team had already left the base, but there were a few players from the youth team, including a boy from Cote d’Ivoire, and several employees.
All those people tried to work for four days.
On February 28, a battle began close by. Everyone who was at the base went down to the basement. And then, during a lull, they were told, “You have 10 minutes to get out of here!”
Thirteen people and bags with documents were “loaded” into an off-roader, and the entire group moved to Merefa, where one of the staff members lived.
For a month, they all lived in a small room, and more often in the basement, because March was probably the hottest month of confrontation in the Kharkiv region between the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the Russian invaders. And most importantly, few understood what would be next. At the same time, boys were sent from the hot region. The most difficult thing was with the legionnaire — in order for him to leave, they had to contact the Embassy of the Republic of Cote d’Ivoire in Ukraine, find a taxi to the train station (in those conditions, it was almost a feat and cost “only” five thousand hryvnias). Thank God, everyone went west, everyone is safe.
Tired of living between the room and the basement, Yevhen and Tetiana began to look for a safer shelter. They found it in Zmiyiv. Yevhen once played in a local team there. They say that strangers and former teammates helped more than their relatives… “Every man for himself,” said the relatives.
On March 14, Tania wrote on her Instagram:
“Today, 14.04.2022, my Zhenia and I @e.v.v.1978 ❤️❤️ were supposed to register our marriage in the Central civil registry office of Kharkiv.
I will never forgive russia for the pain, suffering and worries inflicted upon me!
And you, “rushka,” will pay the ultimate price for my Kharkiv!!!”
The wedding of Tetiana Krasnohorska and Yevhen Vdovenko did take place – on April 30. It was the first for Tania.
When my friends were getting married, I was studying, – the excited bride says, waiting for Yevhen, who went on business and was late. — First education, second… There were always more important things. And maybe there was simply no person with whom I would like to spend the rest of my life. And when such a person appeared, war came to Ukraine. And now we are without work, funds, our own home, without understanding what will happen next. But there is a loved one nearby. It saves!
Four months after escaping from the burning Kharkiv, Tania and Yevhen Vdovenko still live in Zmiyiv. They have changed their third apartment already and continue to thank their friends from the football-related Zmiyiv community.
The war has been going on much longer than most of us anticipated. But it helped to separate the important from the unimportant.
Zhenia and I are actually very lucky, – says Tetiana. — Three months of insecurity and unemployment fell on the candy-bouquet period and the honeymoon after the wedding. Despite the difficult times, we were and remain optimistic. Love helps to survive troubles, to keep ourselves fit. But for the war, we wouldn’t probably have enough time for each other. Work 24/7 without days off, business trips, meetings… And we definitely learned to be together and enjoy the little things.
Tania bought a fishing feeder rod and a fishing chair for her sweetheart, who is a big fan of fishing.
We don’t know what will happen tomorrow. And we realize the seriousness of the situation. But we have a fishing chair! Everyone is happy, – Tania and Zhenia smile. — And if earlier we planned a vacation in Egypt and argued a lot about it, now we are fishing in a pond nearby and find enjoyment in it.
Besides, the couple got a Basset Hound dog. They couldn’t take the girl and two other puppies from the kennel in Kyiv because of the war. Therefore, the breeder decided to present a puppy to the Vdovenko family for their wedding. The puppy came a long way to them. But now their funny and restless dog mobilizes Tania and Zhenia even more. Because it demands much responsibility. So, they can’t relax!
A few words about work.
Tania returned to her work in the same optical shop where she had worked before the war. Of course, in Kharkiv. She spends four hours traveling in a not very comfortable bus. But as of today, having a secure job is a great privilege!
– We can’t relax even for a moment, because we are in such a place where we can hear the sounds of missile attacks on the airport, KhTZ, and Pyatykhatky. I warn my husband that I will simply not come back because a bus might stop running.
As for Yevhen, he also started working, but his situation is less cheerful.
-The Metalist-1925 base is now in a very deplorable condition, says Yevhen. — The war did not spare the infrastructure from the very beginning, and on June 2, a Russian missile hit the base building in Vysoke. The explosion was so powerful that it left a 5-m-deep crater near the building. It shattered windows in the main building and damaged the facades in the one where replacement players had lived… We are working a little, but in the current conditions we can only take care of the fields, and only to a limited extent.
By the way, the football season will take place in Ukraine. Only Metalist-1925 will play in the Kyiv region instead of their home stadium.
February 24, 2022 divided the lives of these two, as well as the entire country, into “before” and “after.” But their love shifted the accents.
Before the war, the moments that make up life were not so valued: a job and a stable salary, free time and the opportunity to go somewhere. For example, to the Gorky Park — a favorite place of rest for all Kharkiv residents, says Tania. — And today, realizing that no one can be safe, we have learned to appreciate what we have. And our love helped us in this.
Tetiana Logvina, “Visti Zmiyivshchyny”, Zmiyiv, Kharkiv region
06.07.2022
Article is prepared within the project “Countering Disinformation in Southern and Eastern Ukraine” funded by the European Union.
