Communications manager Natalia, who lives in the capital Kiev, made an unusual wake-up call on Thursday, her 31st birthday.
Instead of having breakfast in bed, her husband Sasha wakes her up at 5 a.m. Their city is being bombed, he tells her. “I picked up my phone and immediately opened Facebook,” said Natalia.
As she was absorbing the enormity of events, a surreal moment: a courier arrived at her apartment block with a giant green balloon. “Natalia, celebrate life!” They shouted.
“I wanted to cry and call my mom,” she said.
Natalia grabbed a suitcase and in confusion simply dropped her Panama hat. But she and Sasha decided not to leave the city.
“When my grandmother finally called me, I burst into tears,” she said. “Her name is also Natalia, she turns 90 this year. My grandmother congratulated me on my birthday and wished me good health.”
This was not the birthday that Natalia expected. It was one she would never forget.
“We went to my parents for a festive dinner, heard the air raid warning, went to the basement. There, in the damp damp, a young mother was feeding a baby, little dogs in overalls were running around, cats were sitting quietly in carriers. ,
Natalia begins to wonder if her birthday is cursed.
“You see, I always have some kind of nightmare on my birthday. Hanging on the field, a pestilence, is now a war.”
In 2014, the February protests in Maidan Square were targeted by snipers, and more than 100 people were killed.
“The fact that I am an irrepressible, crazy optimist and this quality has never let me down.”
Another resident of Kiev, Natasha, also celebrates her birthday on February 24. most of the year.
“Today is the scariest day of my life,” she told CNN. “My son Vadim and I were far away! I am at home in Dnipro, and he is in Kiev – he has just entered the university.”
He spent his 45th birthday worrying and waiting. “Things in Kiev exploded, burned, and air raid warnings were heard. My son and my niece hurried around Kiev, tried to leave the city but returned.
“It seems to me that I died several times after hearing Vadim’s cries and fears.”
It was the next day, and she was reunited with her son when Natasha was a year older.
“He was sobbing with tension. ‘Mom, it shouldn’t be like that! People should not fight and kill each other. What is all this for?’”
Vadim himself has a birthday soon, and Natasha is not looking forward to it.
“At the age of 18 he will join the territorial defence. And he will definitely study in the military department to become an officer. Who knows how long this hell will last?
Lamia, who turned five on Thursday, is among the youngest Ukrainians to celebrate a birthday on February 24.
Her mother, Daria, is concerned about Lamia’s future birthdays. “Today is such a scary and such a happy day. Exactly five years ago my beautiful girl was born. And tomorrow we planned a holiday for her, but today something terrible happened in our country,” said Daria.
“And although today such a difficult time has begun, she will live in peace and happiness, I promise. In the house we do not show our spirits, happily take pictures. Today, she dresses and decorates as she wanted. with ladybugs,” she added.
59 years old Olga settled in Ukraine After leaving Russia. “I’ve never had such a terrible birthday. But there were some comforts as well.
“For example, you’re coming home from the subway, and there’s a poster ‘Shooting f**k’ on the monument… I can see on the internet, there’s an anti-war rally on Pushkin Square in Moscow. And the sign ‘No War’ No!’ On the doors of the State Duma it is written in paint. My people are awake.”