Two years on from Vladimir Putin’s invasion, a Ukrainian MP has offered a stark insight into the harrowing reality of his war – including the time her young son simply asked her: “Am I going to die mum?”
Inna Sovsun also took the opportunity to highlight the plight of thousands of other children across her country – as well as thousands more who have been stolen by Russia.
Ms Sovsun, 39, was speaking the day before the grim second anniversary – and she readily admitted the last 12 months have been no less difficult than the first.
The former deputy Minister of Education and Science told Express.co.uk: “I think that if you compare one year ago and right now, a year ago people were less tired, that’s for sure.
“Right now if you ask any Ukrainian how they are feeling, the absolute majority would just say very tired.”
Ms Sovsun, whose partner is serving in the Ukrainian armed forces, despite having no previous experience, added: “Everybody is exhausted – this pressure of living in a warzone is extremely tiring.
“It’s not as difficult as it is for those on the front line, but still it’s very difficult for those, including myself, whose loved ones are there.
She stressed: “This is immense pressure that you’re living under every second.
“You can never forget about this. You can never relax. You can never do yoga, do meditation, none of that works.
“You’re living under constant stress and pressure not to mention those people who are living next to the front line, like in Kharkiv or Zaporizhzhia, where missile attacks are happening almost every day.”
Ms Sovsun’s 11-year-old son, Martyn, is one of many growing up in the shadow of the war – and she admits she worries about the long-term psychological impact it will have on him.
She explained: “My son is in a privileged situation because he lives in Kyiv and his school has a bomb shelter.
“He is worried when they have to go to the bombshell during air raid alerts and there were situations when I saw him extremely stressed, when he would ask me: ‘Will the Russians come overnight and kill me?’
“That was the second-scariest thing. The most scary he told me was during one of the air raid alerts. There was an attack on Kyiv and they hit some targets so we could hear a loud explosion.
“He said: ‘Mum, am I going to die now?’ That is something that as a parent you never ever want to hear your child saying.
“It’s traumatising for my son – but think about almost 20,000 Ukrainian kids who have been kidnapped by Russia. I have no idea how we will get them back because Russia will never give them back themselves.
“I’m thinking about the children of those who have been killed on the war, I’m thinking about kids who go to school in Metro stations. They’re building underground schools in Kharkiv, my native city right now. This is the terrifying reality of war for those kids, it’s unimaginable.
“So is my son traumatised because of the war? Yes, of course he is, but I’m thinking about kids who go to school underground, in the 21st century, going through something like this.”
Discussing her feelings about February 24, Ms Sovsun said: “These anniversaries are odd days in Ukraine. February 20 was the 10th anniversary of the people killed in the Euromaidan protests which basically started the big war.
“So I want people to remember that it actually started 10 years ago when Putin annexed Crimea. Ten years of living through this nightmare.
“I think the good news is that we survived – not all of us unfortunately because many people died. But I truly feel privileged to have survived and that was not a given two years ago – I wasn’t sure that would be the case.”
