20-YEAR-OLD Mia Ivanova weeps as she watches news reports of her home city of Kharkiv being pounded by Russian missiles on a daily basis.
A week ago Ivanova and her friend Vicki Myronova arrived in Limerick after fleeing the former Ukraine capital where her dormitory at a university in the city centre was bombed.
Much like the devastated cities of Mariupol and Kyiv, Kharkiv, which is only 40 miles from the Russian border, is being pounded by Russian weaponry on a daily basis, and residents are sleeping in subway trains.
Exhausted and traumatised, Ivanova’s shellshocked eyes well up as she describes the warm welcome Ukrainian refugees have received on Irish soil.
“Irish hospitality is out of this world, everybody is helping us and it is really cool, it is amazing . We now have a safe and warm place to stay, and Ukraine children can now go to school here in Ireland. This is really helpful to us,” Ivanova says.
A philosophy student, she and her friend Vicki hold a banner to protest against the Russian invasion before they return to their temporary accommodation on the Limerick Clare border.
Ivanova is aghast at news reports of Ukraine women being raped and burned, and of bodies rotting in the streets of her homeland.
All she can say is: “I have no words”.
“When I see the news everyday, it’s getting worse and worse, and we can do nothing from here. We can only ask NATO to close the skies and stop the war. The government needs to do something and they need to do it now,” she says, after gathering her thoughts.
“It’s really horrible, it’s a nightmare, a shame. My city is completely destroyed now and everybody is trying to get out.
“Our dorms were bombed, our homes are completely destroyed. It’s not just my story, it’s actually worse than people tell it, and everyday it is getting worse.
“Ukraine is a country in the centre of Europe and we can’t let this happen, we need to stop this war. We have asked NATO to close the sky and nothing happened, and people are still dying in Ukraine, this is continuing and it is terrible.”
Despite being safe now, she feels helpless and worried for her mother Anna and her brother, Nikita, who remain in Ukraine.
“My family is still in Ukraine, my mother and my brother. My brother to protect his country and my mother says she was born there and she will die there.”
Ivanova becomes emotional describing leaving her mother and brother behind and surrounded by carnage and death.
“My mother did not want to come with me. I’m trying to connect with her and call her and trying to know what is happening there.
“It’s hard for everybody, mothers and children who have left have no choice, they don’t want to but they have no choice, because their children are still dying in the shelters, they are still dying in the war in Ukraine.”
