Right day Russia Invades UkraineAnastasiia, 12, was awakened by two cruise missiles on the roof.
“They were like fighter planes,” she remembers.
Anastasiia is one of thousands of Ukrainian refugees who have sought asylum in Australia since Russia invaded their country on February 24.
Al Jazeera spoke with Anastasiia and two other Ukrainian refugees about their perilous journey to a country nearly 15,000 kilometers (9,300 miles) away.
These are their stories.
Anastasia
When the war started, Anastasiia was living in a small town near Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, with Kyrylo, her brother, their mother and father.
For the first few days, they didn’t know what to do, she said. Finally, they hide in the basement of their building during the air raids.
“The constant shelling and strikes kept us from going anywhere and we only had food in the fridge for a few days. On the sixth day, we ran out of food,” Anastasiia told Al Jazeera, requesting that her name not be released for the safety of her parents.
“My grandmother made some food and walked to us from quite a distance, it was very dangerous.”
Just over a week later, she left town with her mother, brother, grandparents, and a cart full of cattle. Many of those who fled had to leave their pets behind.
“We caught two cats, a dog, two turtles, a lizard, two ducks, two mice and an owl,” she said.
Other than that, they only have the clothes they’re wearing.
People crammed in cars without seat belts, sitting on each other’s knees, animals in the trunk.
Anastasiia said: “We feared for our lives… because around the road there were various checkpoints (checkpoints) and people were shot dead… You can see a lot of cars with bodies.
“We just rely on luck,” she said. “There were a number of cars in a row and the first car was shot but fortunately no one was killed, so we changed our route,” she said.
“Our car is covered with white stripes [with writing] that it is carrying children.
“But as we were driving,” she said, “on the side of the road, we saw a similar car with a white stripe with a lot of blood.”
The journey was long and painful, but Anastasiia made it to Poland. From there, her mother bought the two children plane tickets to Sydney, where she arranged for two family friends to take care of them until the family was reunited.
Neither Kyrylo nor Anastasiia received a COVID-19 vaccine, which creates more of a challenge.
The airline refused to test Anastasiia, who had proof of a negative PCR test result, which she expected would allow her to fly to Australia.
The airline said it does not recognize exemptions and that any unvaccinated child over 12 must be accompanied by a vaccinated adult – but Kyrylo and Anastasiia are traveling alone.
Because of his young age, Kyrylo was allowed on board.
“We didn’t have time to say goodbye,” Anastasiia said.
Weeks later – after spending time in refugee camps and staying with friends and family – Anastasiia was finally allowed to board a flight and is now staying with her brother in Sydney.
Their parents have returned to Ukraine, fighting for their country, while she and her brother try to figure out life in Australia.
Antonina
At 11pm on February 23, Antonina was on a Meet on Google call with her best friend.
“We literally joked that nothing would happen,” said the native in the eastern city of Kharkiv. “We also joke that we don’t pack our worry backpacks…with all the important documents, clothes, food, etc.”
Early the next morning, she awoke to a loud bang.
“My heart was beating really hard,” she said.
Antonina and her partner Ilya took the subway to her mother and sister and left their cat in their care.
“They don’t want to leave. Moreover, they continue to work. My sister was really bombarded just to give some product from the store they were working for,” she said.
In the days leading up to the invasion, Ilya’s company tried to prepare for the evacuation of their staff, but the war came later than they expected and the details were still not finalized.
The buses that Antonina and Ilya were expecting were not available.
“Suddenly, one of my partner’s colleagues, she said she had a lot of tickets for a train to the West Coast. [of Ukraine] in an hour… it’s just a coincidence, because they planned… to build the team [event],” said Antonina. “So we just… tried to get into the train with fake names… and they allowed us.”
They took the train to Drahobrat, a small ski town in the southwest of the country.
“We stopped all the time, turned off the lights, waited,” she said. “… We were so stressed, oh my, we didn’t know what to do.”
From there, the couple traveled to Lviv. That’s where they had to say goodbye.
“After that, I was on my own,” she said. “… I had to go to Poland to get a visa and buy a ticket to Australia from there.”
Under Ukrainian law, all males between the ages of 18 and 60 – with few exceptions – face mandatory bondage, and Ilya must stay and fight.
“I was so scared and frustrated that I didn’t realize what was happening. I feel as if I’ll be back in a few days,” she said.
Antonina crossed the border by bus from Lviv with two friends.
“It took us about 30 hours to cross the border. Our bus is 40th in the queue,” she said. “Lots of volunteers [were] help with coordination and food. People made custom fireplaces so they wouldn’t die from the cold.
“Snow falls and [the] the temperature is around -5 degrees Celsius (23 degrees Fahrenheit). Crowds (thousands) of mothers and children in blankets and towels standing together. They said they had been standing there for seven hours before we asked. “
Antonina finally found her way to Krakow and a friend’s apartment of a friend.
Before the war, Antonina had planned to go to Switzerland to study for a master’s degree, but financial and visa problems prevented her from going. On a whim, she decided to apply for a scholarship to Charles Darwin University in Darwin, Australia.
“They answered [to] me with a complete list of instructions. So I followed the instructions, they were willing to take me,” she said.
She flew from Poland to Dubai, to Brisbane and finally – three days after leaving Krakow – to Darwin.
The course wasn’t quite what she thought it would be, so Antonina decided to move to Sydney to work. She wants to settle down and have her partner join her.
“I [a] data scientist with [a] big data platform,” she said. “Currently I’m searching [to continue] my career is [a] data scientist or data analyst. ”
Olesia
Upon hearing that the Moldova border might be closed, Olesia decided to leave Ukraine with her five-year-old daughter and 16-year-old stepchild.
“There are a lot of rumors saying that there are too many Ukrainian refugees in Moldova,” said the 34-year-old, “and there are rumors that Moldova might close the border. That’s when I realized if I don’t [leave] now, then we’ll be stuck. “
Family from Kyiv.
“It all started on February 24 at 5am. We woke up from two explosions and… then my husband told me the war had started. ”
Olesia’s husband had prepared an emergency bag and later that day, he left to join the front line.
“I was scared and hurt. But to be honest, it’s a lot worse now because back then I thought it would all be over in three to five days and I would see him again soon,” she said, “and now. [been] It went on for 59 days so now I’m in more pain.”
“No one thinks it’s real, in the 21st century, when war breaks out like that.”
At first, she said, people ran down to the underground parking lot when the sirens went off.
“Then, five days after the war started, I felt that I couldn’t do this anymore,” she said. “It’s sad – the amount of bad news coming in from screens with all the sirens going off at night and any time of day.”
She decided to bring her children and stepchildren back to her mother’s home – her town seemed to be safer than the capital.
“The hardest part was… actually getting in the car with my baby[ren] because it was really scary back then,” she said. “In your apartment or in the underground parking lot, you feel a little safer, but when you’re in the car, you don’t know what’s going to happen.
“As we were driving, some roads were already tapped, so we had to figure out which ones were safer,” she said, adding that they asked friends in the force to protect them. territory helps them chart a safer path.
“Planes [were] circled above us… so I really don’t know if we’ll make it. ”
At first, she said, she felt a lot safer, but it didn’t last. Olesia did not want to share the name of the town.
“I started hearing… stories from my friends,” she said, “…that’s when I started to feel insecure… you don’t know if you’ll wake up – you don’t know if it’s that. Will this happen to me?”
She decided to leave the country. Her sister-in-law in Australia asked a friend in Romania to help Olesia and her children.
“For now, the plan is to bring some kind of normalcy into the kids’ lives…so both kids can go to school, do some activities and make friends,” she said. “For me, I want to get a job so I can support myself… and maybe once the war is over, everyone will go home.
“We had a wonderful life in Ukraine and we never intended to leave – we were so happy there – and now it’s over… We just don’t know if we’re going to be there. return home and what we will be able to do Return.
“Millions of people lost their homes, their belongings, everything they had.”
Now safe in Sydney, Olesia says the world mustn’t stop talking about what’s happening in Ukraine.
“Please spread… We need to talk about it. We need to scream about it everywhere because we need help.”
