Their names are Valeria, Ivan, Olga, Nina and Evgenia. They came from Ukraine and Russia, and found refuge in France, since the beginning of the conflict. Twelve Ukrainian and Russian families, whose lives have been turned upside down, have agreed to tell us regularly about their new daily lives. In this series, “Carnets d’exil”, all the names will not be published, in order to protect the people who have agreed to testify with the World.
Since the beginning of the war, on February 24, nearly 5 million Ukrainians have left their country. As of April 18, 57,000 adults and children received the subsistence allowance granted by France. Alongside this massive exodus, Russians have fled the regime of Vladimir Putin, some of whom have arrived in France without it being possible to precisely determine the number. They cannot benefit from the temporary protection granted by France and do not necessarily apply for asylum.
“THE LACK OF UKRAINE IS ALREADY FELT… on all the plans. I think about it all the time, when I speak, once a day, to our parents who have returned, fortunately, safe and sound to kyiv. When I think of my fiancé, left at the western border of the country. At our wedding planned for this summer, and which will take place… I don’t know when.
I sometimes think about it lightly, almost carelessly, when I drink a cappuccino, on the terrace of a café, and realize how different the recipes in France and in Ukraine are. I also think about it with anguish, during my sleepless nights, when I let myself be taken in by social networks and news channels. Experiencing war on a screen has something chosen that is unbearable… A habitual effect sets in. And I know that my parents feel it too: when the sirens hold up in kyiv, to announce possible bombardments, they tell us that they no longer come down from the 8e floor and stay in their apartment.
The paradox is that I dreamed of coming to Europe. Today I am there, and I can not project myself. The war occupies all my mind. I hope to get out of this state by going to spend a few days in Ukraine with my parents – to see them, to touch them, to be reassured… Afterwards, maybe I will be able to experience this exile as an opportunity.
Because the choice is made: we intend to stay at least until Maria has finished high school. At least a year, then. In kyiv, I had finished my studies in philology; I had a job – a managerial position in the IT sector – which I lost. But Maria, she was a few months from the end of her 11e Classes [l’équivalent de la terminale]. There, we do not know if the end of high school exams, in July, will be maintained. If they will take place in a basement, in an embassy… Whereas, here, my sister has already bounced back: she found her place in a high school, in 1re ; she is doing well, her teachers are happy with her, she is even preparing for the French baccalaureate… I cling to that. I try to persuade myself that we made the right choice: it was so that my sister could succeed in school that we decided to leave, she and I.
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