Alyona Lazareva

I am grateful to Romania for believing in me and my people. We are friends till the end of my days!

Alyona Lazareva (34) is from Kyiv and has a seven-and-a-half-year-old son. Before the war, she and her husband ran a catering and event planning business. She has been friends with Alla for almost seven years. Together, they are involved in integration projects for Ukrainians in Bucharest, and have set up a foundation, Hope 4 Ukraine, in Kyiv.

“We had a great life: a strong family, an apartment, a car, a job, a country house where our whole family would get together and enjoy a weekend! We had close friends, the best city, plans and travels… That is until February 24, 2022, when at 5 a.m. the Russian “liberators” came for us!

I felt this war coming a month before it happened. Dreams kept on troubling me. I told all my family and friends that we had to pack our things, there would be war! Nobody believed it. I had an instinct telling me to leave the city.

Two backpacks, papers and a full tank of gas. This had been the rule for 2 weeks.

On February 18, we celebrated Valentine’s Day. I remember who was wearing what and what we talked about. It was incredible: we danced, we hugged, we joked… But in the morning my husband told me “I have a feeling that things will not be the way they were before!”. I said, “Maybe we should get out of town and wait?” “No, I think it’s too soon to leave,” he replied.

On February 23 I went on a stroll down the street with our son, it was a sunny day. He rode his scooter, I took him to see his dad at work. That night we had our friends over, we played board games. Before going to bed, as I usually did, I read Saint-Exupery’s The Little Prince to our boy.

And on February 24, at 5 a.m., missile blasts woke us up. “It has begun,” my husband said. In 15 minutes, we packed our bags, carried the sleepy little guy in our arms, a few things, jumped in the car and drove to the Chernivtsi region. It hit me right there and then that my husband wouldn’t stay with us much longer.

We drove 26 hours to Chernivtsi, saw missiles, tanks, sadness, pain, fear, queues at petrol stations! In Chernivtsi friends of ours invited us to spend a few days in their house. We made sandwiches at the border because we had to help each other, the men carried food and gave it out to people.

Two days later, our friends’ house was filled with other friends travelling from all the dangerous regions of Ukraine. Everyone needed help. I decided to go abroad with my child, the nearest country was Romania. Two backpacks, papers and anonymity! Who am I? Where should I go?

My husband and I haven’t been apart for nine years. I’ve always felt protected, I was always behind a stone wall… and now I’m all alone, on the move into the unknown, with a child in tow! On February 28 we arrived in Bucharest, people here helped us rent an apartment for a week.

I was crying all the time and didn’t feel like stepping outside. Back then, my parents were in Chernihiv under occupation, my younger sister was there, and my husband joined the armed forces to defend the Motherland. Every time we talked on the phone could have been our last. A week went by this way… We were three families: three women and four children!

Within a week, we found an apartment and moved in. The owner of the apartment allowed all of us to live rent free, he even brought us some things, some money! I will be grateful for his help all of my life. He asked us, “What else do you need?” And I needed a job, because I realised I had come here to save my child and tears of grief would do little to help me do that. Child, work, helping the family in my Ukraine! I had to be strong!

They helped me find a job and a week later I was employed. For four months I worked almost non-stop as an event manager for a catering company. The management believed in me. I am very grateful. I had experience in this area and spoke English.

The child started going to school, and spent the nights at home with the other boys because the mothers had to work. In May, I took the family car from Ukraine and learned to drive it in a week. Because it had to be done. I needed to work more and raise the child. The school was out for the summer and I couldn’t just leave him.

I quit my job… I convinced my best friend to move with her children from Poland to Bucharest. She came up with a story for the kids: while our dads are defending Ukraine there, and we are staying here! We are a team! Since July, we’ve been living in houses next door from each other, we support each other a lot.

Also, at the end of July we met the “Snagov Olimpic” team, and we have been working together on integration projects for Ukrainians for more than half a year. I feel reborn, I really appreciate having the opportunity to help not only myself but other women as well. My job is my second family.

My son takes boxing and chess classes, we learn foreign languages and we don’t forget our mother tongue. My husband is still in the army. We are very sad and want to go home, despite the fact that everything is nice here and people are very whole-hearted. I’m trying my best to learn new things, so I can go back home with new projects and help people with psychological recovery. I am grateful to Romania for believing in me and my people. We are friends till the end of my days!