Oksana Savchenko, French teacher in Kiev, just retired, fled the war in Ukraine. She ended up arriving in Sens in the Yonne, where she has a small apartment and knows some friends. A backward exile that she agreed to tell us.
Sounds of bombs and the red sky
Oksana had no not decided to go into exile in Sens. These are a few events, which decided for her, starting with this Thursday, February 24. “The night of the 24th, there was a big explosion next to my father’s house, we were all together (at his house)”says this resident of Kiev, “and I also saw the sky which was red. We went out into the street, it was four or five in the morning. All the houses had the lights on. We understood that it was the start of the war .” She was then 20 km from the capital, where her apartment was located. But Oksana and her husband give up going there. Too dangerous. With his father, they go 30 km to the south, to his cousin, with just a few clothes.
With other displaced people, in western Ukraine
“The night we spent at my cousin’s house was not calm either. There were bombs falling on the military airport which was ten kilometers from her house.” New start. This time they all three leave for Lviva large city in western Ukraine. “In Lviv, there are a lot of people. With our friends in Lviv, we could stay but by staying there, we occupied the place of others. People arrive, arrive, arrive and they need to be fed, accommodated for at least a few days. So we made the decision to go to Poland.” But there are three days of waiting at the Polish borderOksana learns about it on the internet and her 85-year-old father is sick and fragile: “I think it would be very difficult for my father to sit in the car for three days.”
Settling in France, but for how long?
Oksana therefore decides to leave for France and Sens in the Yonne, which she knows for having lived there for four years some twenty years ago, which does not prevent the heartbreak. “We leave our projects, our libraries, our memories”testifies Oksana with tears in her eyes, “I don’t have any photos of my family, for example.” So moving back to this new apartment in Sens, even if it belongs to her, is still difficult. For the moment, the priority of this Ukrainian is to take care of the health of her father.
This retired teacher also thinks of all those young people who have chosen to stay. She who knew the communist era, she admires Ukrainian youth “free and daring” who decided to fight for his country.