Since September I have been wanting to go to Kyiv

Berlin filmmaker and author Jelena Jeremejewa was visiting her family in Kyiv at the beginning of the war. In her journal Since September I want to go to Kyiv she reports on the first days of the war, on her escape and the thoughts and fears she, her family and her friends have had in these days, weeks and months. She is aware of the different perspectives with which Germans / Western Europeans and Ukrainians view the events of the war, and tries to convey the Ukrainian view. The diary covers the period from mid-February to early May.

„16.2.2022
I have been wanting to go to Kyiv since September. To my father and my friends. There was always something getting in the way. Deadlines, half-term holidays, working on my relationship and working on looking after things, simply working, German Christmas, New Year, my 40th birthday, and then Omicron. On February 16th I am finally ready to go. Finally going home.
The mood in the packed aeroplane is sombre. Just a few German journalists who can still find something to laugh about, swapping notes on a really delicious and indescribably cheap sushi in Kyiv. My brother picks me up from the airport. I breathe the familiar February air, fresh and full of exhaust fumes. The language wraps itself around me like a blanket and makes me feel safe. People are glad to see their friends and family who are there to pick them up. Flowers, names on signs and calls for taxis. Everything is stopping and starting. Traffic jam until we get across the Dnipro – everything still in place, everything still where I am from.“ (Taken from the book.)