TOKYO: Olena Kushnarova, a Ukrainian woman who evacuated to Japan, admits mixed feelings, saying she cannot be happy about being in a safe place when people in her country are enduring a terrible time amid Russia’s invasion.

In an online interview with Jiji Press, she said she is worried about Yurii, her husband staying in Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, and her relatives in the southeastern city of Mariupol, one of the bloodiest battlefields in the Ukraine-Russia conflict.

She left Kyiv on the evening of March 5, the day her brother-in-law’s father died in Russian shelling. Olena and Yurii, both 50, drove to a suburb of the western city of Lviv, hoping to be safe there and stay in Ukraine together.

After an air strike at a nearby military training site, however, they decided Olena should leave the country.

On March 14, Olena’s younger sister drove her to Krakow, southern Poland. After getting a visa at the Japanese Embassy in Warsaw, Olena left Poland by air March 19.

Though she was able to meet her son’s family in Tokyo after traveling some 1,000 kilometers by land and 10,000 kms by air, Olena could not be truly happy, thinking how bad the situation was in her home country, she recalls.

She said that she could not even feel joy meeting her dearest two granddaughters without reserve because she had been bottling up her emotions in order to survive the heart-breaking situation.

Olena said she is most worried about her 76-year-old mother and Yurii’s parents in Mariupol.

Her mother’s neighbors occasionally contact Olena to let her know that her mother is safe, but since March 2 she has not known whether her parents-in-law are alright.

People in the city have been living in half-destroyed housing with no access to electricity, water, heat or gas for over three weeks, Olena said.

She is anxious about her husband in Kyiv, where air-raid sirens ring six to 10 times every day. Currently, men aged between 18 and 60 are prohibited from leaving the country.

Yurii is registered as a backup volunteer soldier, and he might have to join the battle, Olena said. She is in frequent contact with him and prays for his safety.

While expressing her fear that the conflict in her country might be prolonged, she voiced gratitude for the Japanese government for letting her stay in a safe place.

The simplification of procedures for visa issuance was very helpful, and the embassy in Warsaw did a great job, she said.

She also said she is very thankful for donations from Japanese people and all the support she had in evacuating to Japan.

JIJI Press