On Dec. 18, when 25-year-old ValeriiaFobulian flew to the United States from Ukraine to work as an au pair for a family in Hancock, she had no idea that her country would be at war in less than 10 weeks.
“I’m always checking my phone,” Fobulian said.
She keeps close contact with her family and friends but is worried about them constantly. She has an app downloaded on her iPhone called Telegram. It can be used to send messages to people but is also a source of news. The app can be set up to send out alerts when bombs are dropped, as well.
Fobulian has the app set up to alert her when bombs hit near her hometown of Nikopol in the region of Dnipropetrovska near the Russian border, where her family is. Every night she is woken up multiple times by warnings.
“I just want to sleep and wake up and it will all be a very bad dream,” she said.
Prior to coming to the United States, Fobulian had been studying for a master’s degree in translation at the National Linguistic University in Kyiv. She was working part-time jobs to pay for school, and she loved living in the city.
Kyiv is one of the most-populous cities in Europe, with slightly under 3 million residents. Fobulian said there was always something to do such as going out to eat, getting a coffee or going to the theater. She has a lot of friends currently living in Kyiv, but their lives don’t look anything like they did a couple months ago.
After finishing her degree, Fobulian decided to sign up for an au pair program so she would be able to spend time in America. Getting a visa is difficult and can take a long time, especially after COVID tightened restrictions on international travel. She felt connected to a family in Hancock with a half-Ukrainian mother and two young children, so she chose to spend the year in New Hampshire, and is teaching her host mom Ukrainian lessons when she’s not watching the children.
Fobulian had planned to go home and visit Ukraine this summer. Now nothing is certain.
“We are just waiting,” she said, but she maintains hope. “I believe that we will win. If you’re big, it doesn’t mean you are strong.”
Fobulian’s brother is in his first year at a military academy with thousands of other teenagers and young men in Ukraine. She is extremely worried about him. The government told all of the students they had to turn off their phones so that Russian intelligence wouldn’t be able to trace their location, and not so long ago, her brother slept in a location that was bombed by Russia the next day.
A friend of Fobulian’s living near Kyiv was out of touch for nine days, and when Fobulian finally made contact, she learned that her friend had been hiding in an underground storage area.
“There was no water, electricity, food,” Fobulian said.
Her friend managed to escape to Poland but had to leave behind her dog and was devastated. Fobulian has been sending her her weekly stipend.
Fobulian explained that Ukrainians have a lot of relatives in Russia since the two countries are so close together, but she said, “Our relatives in Russia don’t believe us,” and they are getting different news. Fobulian said the Telegram app includes Russian news, and the people there are seeing a completely different story about why Russia is attacking Ukraine and how successful they have been.
“A lot of Russian soldiers have died. (Russian President Vladimir) Putin doesn’t care about his people at all,” Fobulian said.
Fobulian explained that in Ukrainian cities, the war has added extra stress to doctors and nurses on the front lines of the ongoing pandemic. There is not only the threat of the building being attacked, but additional danger if oxygen stores are bombed since they could add fuel to an explosion.
Fobulian wants people to know that the war is affecting animals as well as people. At the Nikolaev Zoo, one of the largest in Europe, animals are starving to death. Russian troops are surrounding the city and the director of the zoo is asking for help. For those who want to help the animals, he is asking people to buy tickets to feed the animals at zoo.nikolaev.ua/en.
The problem is not only in zoos. Some people fleeing their homes are forced to leave their pets behind. And according to LBC News, a United Kingdom media outlet, Russian troops set fire to a stable near Kyiv this week and 30 horses were burned alive.
Fobulian said she feels guilty for being “safe” while her family and friends are in constant danger, even though she never could have known that would be the case when she left Ukraine. However, she is still experiencing the war from abroad and feeling the anxiety that her fellow Ukrainians feel. The internet allows her to receive constant updates, a stream of dead bodies, houses being looted and people, even children, being murdered, so she is still connected.