Escape from Ukraine: “I couldn’t count the tanks anymore”

Hardly a day has passed in Mariupol since the beginning of the Ukraine war without Russian attacks. That’s why nine-year-old Albina and her family left the city at the beginning of April. Escape from the eyes of a girl.

Alesya and Ania – these are the two new friends of Albina. Short bangs, long black hair. Albina is nine years old and now lives in a refugee home in Dnipro. “When I wake up at night, I’m suddenly scared. Especially when I have to go to the toilet, alone. But when I’m back in the room with mom and see that she’s with me, then I’m no longer scared,” tells Albina.

Albina escaped from Mariupol. Over broken bridges, broken roads. The car broke down. And Russian soldiers everywhere. “I saw a lot of tanks, maybe 400? I don’t know, at some point I couldn’t count them anymore.”

“Everyone was very scared in the car”

At every Russian checkpoint, Albina’s stepfather tells it, Albina bravely cranked up the window: she climbed halfway out and simply held her hands up. “I tried to somehow make the best of the situation. It wasn’t that easy. I was so hungry. And everyone was so scared in the car. At some point I just waved to all the soldiers. And then I did it done: A Russian waved back at me. He even smiled. That’s how I saved the situation for us.”

Here in the refugee home there is finally enough to eat for her and her family. On the way, Albina had to starve a lot. At least her mother was able to breastfeed her little brother, says Albina. But she herself also took care of him a lot, he is only nine months old. And she, at the age of nine, is a lot bigger. “I took my little brother on my lap and played with him. At first I was still allowed to play with my cell phone, but then they took it away from me because they needed it as a navigation system.”

Lasting Memories

The family didn’t have a lot of luggage with them, no space, no time. Albina had packed together a few pictures that she had drawn herself, her favorite stuffed animal, the duck Lalafan, and a few clothes. “And yes, the most important thing: I had packed tea. That was really worth a lot. When we had to stay in a village, there was no tea. And I was the coolest because I had tea.”

When Albina thinks of Mariupol, she doesn’t talk about bombs, rockets or how many houses were destroyed. She still remembers her hometown as she did before the war. Even though her friend and family no longer live there, Albina has good reason to want to go back. “I would love to go back to Mariupol. I caught a frog on a trip last summer. I would like to find one again.”