‘I was just glad to get the kids out’ – How former Ukraine international Vladyslav Vashchuk escaped ‘genocide’ in Russia

He spent 15 days there, desperate for shelter in the basement with his children for lack of food and water, before they managed to secure an exit through a humanitarian corridor.

“When I left, I couldn’t believe that we escaped this hell alive,” he says of the devastation he saw on the way from his home in Gostomel to the Belogorodka sanctuary, an hour’s drive away.

“The shelling didn’t stop for a minute. The sky was orange the whole time. It was just hell we were in.

“And three days after we left the humanitarian corridor, two Russian armored personnel carriers drove into my house. Russian soldiers spent the night at my house. I didn’t even want to know what they did, I was just glad I managed to get the kids out.”

For Vashchuk, life has been turned upside down in ways unimaginable just a few weeks ago when days were still peaceful.

“Of course I didn’t expect that, nobody did it. Even when there had just been a rocket attack on Boryspil airport in Kyiv, I didn’t believe the war had started.”

He had planned to get his daughter ready for school that morning, the day the Russians came. “We didn’t have time to leave, helicopters appeared in the sky and started bombing us. I went to the basement with the children without realizing that I would have to spend 15 days there,” he says in an interview with the Irish Independent from his new home.

“It was scary at first, I didn’t understand what was happening, but then I realized that this was a real Russian invasion and we were at the epicenter of hostilities.

“I don’t store a lot of groceries at home, so I only had three days’ supplies. When I realized that the food wouldn’t be enough for a long time, I started giving my portion to the kids. On the fourth day even the biscuits were gone.

“Of course I didn’t understand when this would all end, I started thinking about how I could get out of here. I tried to scout out the situation and realized it was very dangerous to leave. The cars shot at Russian troops.

“Between the shelling, all the residents of the neighboring houses went out onto the street. I got to know all the neighbors – we hardly spoke before, but the war brought strangers closer.

“I asked for something to eat – the neighbors brought me potatoes, onions, carrots, canned tomatoes, even honey from their stocks. Everyone helped each other.”

After three days the electricity went out. The next day they lost power.

“My neighbor had a generator, thank God, he could get water, so between shelling we could walk 50-60 meters to him to get water,” he says.

“By the eleventh day the gas was gone, there was nothing left to cook food or heat water. It was very cold in the house, the temperature dropped to -10 at night. We slept in our clothes. My son and I took turns sleeping so we could escape if a shell hit and the house caught fire. To heat the water we made a fire and baked potatoes on it.

“I was worried about the children. I had to take care of charging my phone, I understood that this was the only connection with the outside world. And I saved gas for the car because I understood that it could be useful for walking.”

Thirteen days into the invasion, residents of Gostomel were told they would be evacuated the next day.

“We got to the assembly point announced in the media, we stood there until dark, but the buses never arrived.

“Russian tanks drove past us, one was blown up by a mine and blocked the road. Then they started shooting again, so we ended up going home.”

Buses were supposed to evacuate locals the next day, but they never showed up.

“We spoke to the neighbors and decided to form a car convoy and go at our own risk. They tore white sheets, hung white flags in the windows, wrote “deti”, “children”, on the cars and drove off.

“Our column was sent to Belogorodka. As we drove, my son looked at all the destroyed houses and told me where there were direct hits, but I didn’t see anything – I just looked at the road because I was afraid of getting a puncture, there was a lot of shrapnel on the road .”

Escape to Belogorodka, where Vladyslaw’s brother served in the army, offered relative safety, but his thoughts are with those left behind.

“In Gostomel and other cities of Ukraine, many people are left in basements, there is no electricity, they have no telephone connection, and they also have no information about humanitarian corridors. There are those who cannot walk.

“And the Russian soldiers are robbing houses and committing more crimes every day. I am very grateful to our Ukrainian military for protecting me and my family. That they will fight and resist those who have come to my country to rob and kill people.

“I don’t know how that became possible in the 21st century. This is simply the genocide of my people in Ukraine by Russia, the Russian army, the Russian government. I hope for more serious support from the West and the US.”

What makes the current situation in Ukraine harder to understand is that the invading force, made up of Russians, are neighbors, former friends. Vashchuk knows Russians well as he was born in USSR in 1974, traveled to Russia as a child and even played there with Spartak Moscow (2003-2004).