My parents also came to Germany and settled in Bavaria, where they want to stay for at least a year. We are from Nikopol in southern Ukraine, and I just read online that it was almost totally destroyed by Russia. I think my parents would like to come home at some point, but I’m not sure they can.
I feel safer being queer in Berlin. Ukraine has come a long way in the past 10 years and is better than most post-Soviet countries, but not enough to feel totally comfortable and free. In Kyiv, I felt that many of my gay friends used to hide. Back in Kyiv, my ex and I only held hands on the empty streets when it was dark. The first time I kissed a guy in Berlin was in a busy crosswalk in the middle of the afternoon. It was super cute.
[Ed. note, an update from Dimitry: “After 8 months of sleeping on a guest couch, I found an apartment a few weeks ago and have my own place to live. So I’m glad about that.”]
Yaroslav Reznikov, 30 years old
Before the invasion, I went to Warsaw, Poland, and thought about working there as a massage therapist, as I had done in Kyiv. When the war started I realized I was a refugee because it was probably going to last for many years. I am from Lugansk [a city in eastern Ukraine]which Russia occupied nine years ago when I fled to Kyiv, so it is already the second war of my life.
At first I decided to go to Barcelona, because it was my dream to live in a hot country with Spaniards [laughs]. It was like heaven for me to not have winter. I was diagnosed with HIV about four years ago, and I’m undetectable because I took my treatment very seriously, but I also thought the Spanish climate might be good for my health and longevity. Then my best friend Christina, a lesbian who lived in Berlin, called me and said she couldn’t survive here alone. It was the same for me in Spain; I don’t speak Spanish and I was on my own, so I thought it was a good idea.
At the moment it is very difficult to find long-term accommodation in Berlin. I moved apartments three times in six months because my first two roommates were both drug addicts, which was just bad luck. I’m moving into an apartment soon with a German roommate I’ve met a few times and like. I can’t imagine how I would have survived without the help of ORAM, who will pay for the new apartment, and Quarteera, who helped me so much in translating and going through all the paperwork with me. I have a 24 month visa at the moment but would like to have more certainty about being able to stay here.
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