Get to Know War: Recent Episodes
Daria Synelnykova
On February 24th, 2022 russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukrainian territories. Since then we, Ukrainians, received a lot of support from the international community which we are endlessly grateful for. However, currently, the interest of the world media to the russian aggression in Ukraine is decreasing every day as it happens with long-lasting military conflicts, while the horrors of the war are getting progressively worse. The purpose of this podcast is to share personal stories of Ukrainian youth, educate international listeners, and encourage them to help if they wish to do so.
Holodomor. An unintended consequence of collectivization or a deliberate extermination of Ukrainian population?
The ninth guest of the Get to Know War podcast is Anna from Dnipro, a city in Eastern Ukraine. When the war started Anna together with me was in UWC Costa Rica where she studies, while her family was in Ukraine. In this episode, we reflected upon the experiences of returning home during the summer under the conditions of war, adjusting to the new reality, the world’s growing exhaustion with the russian aggression in Ukraine, and our thoughts about it. Follow the link to get to know Anna’s story and some thoughts that we believe were crucial to address for the international listeners
The eighth guest of the Get to Know War podcast is Hanna from Kharkiv, a city located in Eastern Ukraine. Hanna and her family were at home when russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. As Kharkiv, especially the district of Saltivka, where Hanna lives, was heavily bombed and shelled since the beginning of the war, the family was forced to stay in the basement for several days until there was an opportunity to evacuate to Western Ukraine. Kharkiv as the second largest city in Ukraine with a population of more than 1.5 million people (before the war) has been suffering artillery and missile attacks almost every day since February 24th
The seventh guest of the Get to Know War podcast is Andrii from the Chernihiv region which is located in the North of Ukraine. Andrii is currently studying at Minerva University so he was in Berlin when the russian full-scale invasion of Ukrainian territories started. However, his family stayed in the Chernihiv region and lived through hazardous war realities. In the podcast, Andrii shared personal experiences of severe struggles with the mental health that he had to undergo as a result of continuous stress caused by the war as well as his peaceful endeavors to help Ukraine win the war
The sixth guest of the Get to Know War podcast is Yana from the Kherson region, which is located in the South of Ukraine and currently remains under temporary occupation. During the first two months of the occupation, Yana and her family stayed at home and continued their business of growing flowers and cucumbers regardless of the war struggles. However, Yana her mother, and her siblings managed to evacuate from the Kherson region which in itself is a quite dangerous procedure. Her father, grandmother, and brother stayed in the occupied Kherson to maintain the business and volunteer. They bring Ukrainian humanitarian aid to Kherson as the russian occupation resulted in an absolute lack of products and an immense rise in prices. Now Yana is in Poland volunteering with the refugees from Ukraine.
The fifth guest of the Get to Know War podcast is Valeria from Irpin, a city in the suburban area of the Kyiv region. When russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukrainian territories she was at home with her family. They stayed in Irpin up until the point when the evacuation was impossible as russians were shooting buses and cars with civilians. Valeria and her mother managed to evacuate from Irpin by the evacuation train. Her father stayed in Irpin as evacuation trains were only accepting women and children. The next day the railway in Irpin was bombed by russian forces and many people died. Valeria and her family recently got back to Irpin as it had been liberated in April.
The fourth guest of the Get to Know War podcast is Oleksii, originally from the Donbas region. He had to flee home in 2014 to escape the war and move to the village in the Chernihiv region located in the North of Ukraine. As a large part of the Chernihiv region was occupied during the first two months of russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Oleksii and his family had to go through the war experience again. Their village is located about 10 kilometers from the place where the front line was. Despite the severe danger, the family decided not to evacuate and stayed in Chernihiv region during the hostilities.
The third guest of the Get to Know War podcast is Ivan from Kherson, a city in Southern Ukraine that is currently occupied by the russian forces. His family was forced to remain in the occupied city for a month under the constant shelling, lack of food supplies, and terror of the russian army until they could escape through dangerous country roads among the mined fields. Currently, they have lost most of their property and are unable to come home as Kherson remains temporarily occupied.
Today’s guest is Kateryna from Melitopol, Zaporizhzhia region, which is currently occupied by russian forces. She fled home with her mother and younger brother leaving her father and grandfather in Melitopol. There is almost no connection with them and the evacuation process is impossible as the russians do not allow it. There is a great danger of being shot while trying to evacuate.