Contribution short abstract:

Residents of Hostomel, near Kyiv, faced the Russian army's crimes from the start of its invasion. My family and others sheltered in a basement, enduring harsh survival conditions, emotional struggles, and hopes for evacuation amid intense fighting.

Contribution long abstract:

Residents of the village of Hostomel, located in the western suburbs of Kyiv, witnessed crimes committed by the Russian army from the first moments of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. The international cargo airport “Antonov,” situated near the village, was deemed a strategic target by the Russian invaders. I was with my family in the basement of a multi-storey building together with other residents of the “Krokhmalny” district. I aim to describe the conditions of survival, people's emotional experiences, desperate hopes for an organized evacuation of the civilian population, as well as acts of individual resilience, particularly a resident of the neighboring city of Irpin who evacuated the residents of the village of Hostomel on his own. The occupation of the village in the early days made any social support from volunteers and local authorities impossible. My son (born in 2009) wrote in his diary about his experiences during our stay under occupation: “People are being evacuated from Irpin, Bucha, Kyiv, but only from the central district of Hostomel, and we are near the airport (“Antonov”), in the middle of hell. My mother is trying to get through to the officials (of the Kyiv City State Administration) to tell them that there are people alive near the airport” (March 3, 2022). The research materials include a handwritten diary kept by my son, as well as testimonies from neighbors and other people with whom we survived the first weeks of the war, which I documented.