Julia’s dramatic return from near Kharkiv to Poland

The journey back of Julia Sidenko and her mother to safe Poland took several days. As every year, Julia was visiting her family and loved ones. She flew to Kharkiv on February 23, spent the evening at home with her family in Вовчанськ (Volchansk), 70 kilometres from Kharkiv and just a dozen or so kilometres from the border with Russia.

At 5:00 a.m. on February 24, explosions woke her. Like all the residents, she thought they were exercises. However, seeing the occupiers enter and seize the village, and rockets flying towards Kharkiv, she quickly understood that it was something more dangerous. In Julia’s home city, two television channels were available: the Russian one, where Putin spoke about a special operation, and the Ukrainian one. On Ukrainian television, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced the war.

Julia and her mother decided to leave the areas occupied by the Russians, leaving her father behind. The question was which way to go, when the front line lay west of Kharkiv.

Listen to Julia’s story.

Interview transcript

Julia Sidenko: – On February 23, as usual, I went to visit my parents in Ukraine. I flew by plane to Kharkiv. Later I went to the town where I live, called Volchansk. I travelled by bus and arrived in the evening. We were happy to see each other. We sat together and had dinner. My uncle came, and we sat with my parents. They were happy that I had come. Volchansk is 70 km from Kharkiv and about 15 km from the Russian border itself. Everything was fine: we sat with my parents and went to bed. At five in the morning on February 24, I woke up because my father’s phone rang. I opened my eyes and heard him answer and say: “Yes, they’re shooting.” My mother went to work at 5:00. She had only just gone out into the street when she heard the shots and called my father. We all woke up at five and wondered what was happening until six. But by seven or eight, for example, we could see rockets flying over our town and the houses near us from the Russian border. We could see their border behind a hill, and rockets were simply flying over our village from that direction. By 8:00, we had all gone out into the street. The neighbours came out too. We heard some kind of noise in the distance. We thought it might be planes. But the noise was slowly approaching. Then we saw their military equipment coming down from the hill. Columns came down and then moved onto the country road. They were heading towards Kharkiv through our town. It looked as if there was no resistance, because there were no Ukrainian troops in our town. They entered peacefully. There was one such incident in our town: a man was driving with a woman to work. The car was shot at. The woman died. The man also died in hospital the next day.

Wiesława Seneszyn: – We were very worried about her. One of the employees, who was a close friend of hers because they lived together with us, was in contact with her for some time. Briefly, but she was; later, there was no contact at all. We asked, “Mum, what’s happening?” A week passed, and nobody knew anything. Another week, and nobody knew anything. After three weeks, she got in touch and said that she was already with her family, that she was clearing a path back, and that she had told you the whole story.

Julia Sidenko: – Obviously, I thought I should return home, to Poland, because I live here now. I have a job here. Somehow, I had to get back. I wondered whether I could go through Kharkiv. But there was no way to travel through Ukraine at all. The bridges to Kharkiv had been blown up, everything had been destroyed, as you know. The army had gone there; the front line was there. It was impossible to travel there and get through. Even if it had been possible, people in Kharkiv were waiting for two days just to get onto a train. Later, nobody knew how the trains were travelling or changing routes. It was very dangerous. I decided that we had to go through Russia. My mother decided to go with me. We left together. We were very afraid. We gathered a great deal of information. I asked friends and family in Russia to find out what crossing their border was like. Would the border guards let us through at all? When we decided to travel through Russia, I planned a route: I would cross the Russian border, board a train there and travel to Minsk in Belarus, then come to Poland from Minsk. I came up with this route. My mother and I crossed the border. This is what crossing the Russian border looked like: they had their own services there. They questioned people very thoroughly: where are you going? Where are you coming from? Why are you going? I immediately decided that I would say—and even ask—whether they would let me in or out, that I was going to Poland and wanted to travel through in transit. Everything seemed to be going according to our plan. We travelled by train to Belarus, and when we reached the Belarusian border, there was another border guard post. They made us get off the train. They took us to the post, drove us there and questioned us again. They did not let us through that crossing because they said the train was travelling through a point that was not an international crossing. They kept us there all day and questioned us. When the Russian border guards finally let us go, the Belarusian border guards said they could not let us in because we could enter Belarus only as refugees. In that case, we would not be able to leave for a year. Our entire journey with my mother looked like that from the moment we left home. We prayed that we would meet only good people in Russia, people who would let us through and let us out. The border guards were well-disposed towards us and immediately advised us, at the first crossing: “You know what? Go to Latvia; they will let you in and out there. Our guards have no right to stop you. Latvia will accept you. Go there.” At the Belarusian border, as I said, a whole group of us had gathered: me, my mother and two other girls. We hired a taxi to travel between the cities and took it to the Latvian border. We arrived at about 1:00 at night, I don’t know, although we had left in the morning. At night, towards dawn, we crossed the border with Latvia. There were truly no problems there: the Russians let us out freely, Latvia let us in freely, and we were already in the European Union.

Wiesława Seneszyn: – She returned to her little flat, the room we had given her to live in. She returned to work and felt the need to convey something to everyone who somehow feels it; everyone experiences it in their own way. We cannot say that we all experience it in the same way, because that is not true. But she felt she wanted to express her thanks in an artistic form—to the Creator, as she called it, for the care she received during that month while she was there in the war. She painted a beautiful vase with a wonderful dove of peace. That is the message. Today we even named this decoration: Glory to Ukraine, Glory to the heroes!

Julia Sidenko: – I created the decoration in the colours of the Ukrainian flag, yellow and blue. All the symbols represent the fertility of Ukrainian soil, of Ukrainian black earth. They are sunflowers, ears of wheat and a dove. All Ukrainians truly hope that Ukraine will be free, will flourish and will be rebuilt.

English version

Julia Sidenko: – On February 23, as usual, I went to visit my parents in Ukraine. I came by plane to Kharkov. Later I went to the town where I live, it is called Volchansk. I went by bus, I arrived in the evening. We were happy to see each other. We were sitting, we had dinner. My uncle came, we were sitting with my parents. They were happy that I came. Volchansk is located 70 km from Kharkov and about 15 km from the Russian border itself. Everything was fine, because we sat with our parents and went to bed. And in the morning at five on February 24, I woke up because my dad’s phone rang. I opened my eyes and heard him answer and say: “Well, they’re shooting.” My mom went to work at 5:00. She had just gone out into the street when she heard the gunshots and called my dad. At 5:00 we all woke up and until six o’clock wondered what was happening. By seven or eight, for example, we saw rockets flying from the Russian border over our village and the houses near us. We could see their border behind a hill, and rockets simply flew over our village from that side. By 8:00 a.m. we had all come out into the street. The neighbours came out too. We heard some kind of noise in the distance. We thought it might be planes. But it was a noise that slowly approached. Later we saw their military equipment coming down from the mountain. Columns came down and then moved onto the country road. They were heading towards Kharkiv through our town. It looked as if there was no resistance, because there were no Ukrainian troops in our town. They entered peacefully. There was one such incident in our town. One man was driving with a woman to work. The car was shot at. The woman died. The man also died in hospital the next day.

Wiesława Seneszyn: – We were very worried about her. One of the employees, who was a friend of hers because they lived together at our place, was in contact with her for some time. Briefly, but there was contact; later, she had none. We asked, “Mum, what’s going on?” A week passed, and nobody knew anything. Another week passed, and nobody knew anything. After three weeks she got in touch and said she was already with her family, was clearing a path back and had told you the whole story.

Julia Sidenko: – Obviously, I thought I should return home to Poland because I live here. I have a job here. Somehow, I had to come back. I wondered whether I could go through Kharkiv. But there was no way to travel through Ukraine. Bridges to Kharkiv had been blown up and everything was destroyed, as you know. The army went there; the front line was there. It was impossible to travel there. Even if it had been possible, people in Kharkiv were waiting for two days just to get on a train. Later, nobody knew how they were travelling or changing routes. It was very dangerous. I decided that we had to go through Russia. My mother decided to go with me. We left together. We were very afraid. We collected a lot of information. I asked my friends and family in Russia to find out what crossing their border was like. Would the border guards let us through? When we decided to travel through Russia, I planned a route: I would cross the Russian border, board a train there and go to Minsk, Belarus, then come to Poland from Minsk. I planned this route. My mother and I crossed the border. This is what crossing the Russian border looked like: they had their own services there. They questioned people very thoroughly: “Where are you going? Where are you coming from? Why are you going?” I immediately decided that I would say—and even ask—whether they would let me in or out, that I was going to Poland and wanted to travel through in transit. Everything seemed to be going according to our plan. We travelled by train to Belarus, and when we reached the border with Belarus, there was another border guard post. They made us get off the train. They took us to the post and questioned us again. They did not let us through because they said the train was travelling through a point that was not an international crossing. They kept us there all day and questioned us. When the Russian border guards let us go, the Belarusian border guards said they could not let us in because we could enter Belarus only as refugees. Then we would not be able to leave for a year. Our entire journey looked like that from the moment we left home. We prayed that in Russia we would meet only good people who would let us through and let us out. The Border Guard was well-disposed and immediately advised us, at the first crossing: “You know what? Go to Latvia; they will let you in and out there. Our guards have no right to stop you. Latvia will accept you. Go there.” At the Belarusian border, as I said, a whole group of us had gathered: me, my mother and two other girls. We hired a taxi between the cities and took it to the border with Latvia. We arrived at about 1:00 a.m., although we had left in the morning. At night, towards dawn, we crossed the border with Latvia. There really were no problems there. The Russians let us out freely. Latvia let us in freely. And we were already in the European Union.

Wiesława Seneszyn: – She returned to her apartment, the room we had given her to live in. She returned to work and felt the need to convey something to all who feel it somehow; everyone experiences it in their own way. It cannot be said that we all experience the same thing, because that is not true. But she felt she wanted to express her thanks in an artistic form—to the Creator, as she called it, for the care she received during that month while she was at war. She painted a beautiful vase with a wonderful dove of peace. That is the message. Today we even named this decoration: Glory to Ukraine, Glory to heroes!

Julia Sidenko: – I created the decoration in the colours of the Ukrainian flag, in yellow and blue. All the symbols represent the fertility of the Ukrainian land, the Ukrainian black earth. These are sunflowers, ears of wheat and the dove. All Ukrainians truly hope that Ukraine will be free, will flourish and be rebuilt.