‘Real evil is happening now’

We moved to Ireland with a breastfeeding infant in our arms and two schoolboys in 2023.
Before moving, we lived in Ukraine, in the city of Energodar, Zaporizhzhia region. Energodar is a small nuclear town near the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. For six months, we lived under the occupation of our city by Russian troops. And it was six months of horror.
The worst was the night when they captured our city, shelling the nuclear plant. That night we said goodbye to each other and thought that we would not survive.
Then and now, the Russian army gets away with mass destruction of the defenceless civilian population of Ukraine. Crimes against humanity go unnoticed. Now the whole world is watching as thousands of square kilometres of the fertile southern land of the Kherson region go under water, washing away everything in its path – cemeteries, churches, houses, people, animals. Kindergartens and zoos. Schools, hospitals, shops, parking with cars, architectural monuments. Washing away the unique desert and eroding the canyons.
Just as when we lived in Energodar, so now social networks block posts, texts, photos and videos of eyewitnesses, volunteers, victims and do not show all the horror to their users. Viewing footage is visible on Facebook and Instagram only within the country. It turns out that the Ukrainians are being left alone with their misfortune. There is no one to expect help from. What is the difference between the civilians of Turkey, who were affected by the earthquake, and the Ukrainians today?
While European organisations are sitting and arguing, looking for those responsible for undermining the dam, hundreds of bodies of adults and children are floating face down in the flow of the Kakhovsky Reservoir.
Many cities in the south of Ukraine (Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions) are supplied with water from canals that take water from the Kakhovsky Reservoir. They will also have problems with water. Crimea will dry up.
The entire south of Ukraine, being in a rather arid climate, has become predictably fertile, thanks to the developed network of irrigation canals, one of the largest, and possibly the largest in Europe. All canals were fed from the Kakhovsky Reservoir.
The reservoir, which local residents called the Kakhovsky Sea, accumulated huge reserves of water, which allowed to irrigate fields for tens or even hundreds of kilometres around. Thus, the industry and agriculture of the large region are under threat. Life here will stop for several years.
On both banks of the Dnieper River, more than 50 settlements were completely or partially flooded.
Russia usually denies everything – including the war itself, which it started on the territory of Ukraine. ‘This is not us’ is the slogan of Russian propaganda.
As we remember, Russia declared the occupied Kherson region part of its territory on September 30, 2022. And in these minutes, when Ukrainian volunteers on boats were rescuing people from flooded houses, the Russian army shot at any attempts to evacuate ‘its’ citizens! The Russian artillery was firing at Ukrainian volunteers and rescuers who were evacuating people and domestic animals from flooded areas.
Now, once again, they fire at rescuers during the evacuation of the population after a disaster.
On the one hand, we are very happy that we were able to leave and are now safe, and also in such a picturesque country as Ireland. The locals received us very kindly; we did not expect such sincere support, for this we give them a big bow. Our children have been able to go to school, and I have been able to develop professionally. I’m a family videographer and have already done videos in Westport for a music flash mob for the Fleadh Cheoil Mhaigh Eo music festival and a promo video for Croagh Patrick Stables.
But on the other hand, our soul hurts all the time and our heart breaks for our native country.
It is very unfortunate that people’s cries for help are no longer heard. We are begging the whole world to turn its attention to the country in the centre of Europe, because real evil is happening now.

•   Olga Bondarenko is a Ukrainian refugee living in Murrisk.