Polina Bashkina: Mothers fleeing with their children will save Ukraine

Polina Bashkina had a plan to stay and fight, but fled to Ireland with her child to survive and, one day, to rebuild Ukraine

Polina Bashkina with her six-year-old son Platon. Picture: Bob Morrison

I was lying face down on the cold ground, covering my ears with my hands and the child with my body: the first bombing of Ukraine started at around 5am on February 24. My elderly mother was lying nearby, preventing our dog, frightened by the explosions, from breaking out and running away. There was a sense of unreality.

Freezing in the meadow, trying to determine the frequency and distance to the next explosion, I remembered how just a couple of days before it started, I had been making plans for the next year. I was taking care of my six-year-old son Platon and preparing him for school. My sewing school was recruiting a new stream of students; I started my own vlog about finding a calling and developed an audiobook project; held presentations of my new book and, as a journalist, wrote articles for the Ukrainian media.