A former employee of the pro-European party of former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, established in Quebec for two years, chose to stay in Ukraine to lend a hand to her compatriots despite the fears that gnaw at her.
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“Three things scare me: being captured, because it’s easy to know that I’m politically involved, that there are chemical attacks… and that [la Russie] uses nuclear weapons”, darkly enumerates Virginia Dronova.
The Ukrainian communicates with The newspaper from a city in the west of the country that is not named for its security, from where she tries to mobilize the support of the international community.
“I understand how the West and the media work, that’s what I can do to help,” says the former adviser to ex-president Petro Poroshenko’s party, “European Solidarity.”
Yesterday afternoon, Virginia Dronova was wearing a pink hoodie that didn’t belong to her. She only took what she needed while fleeing Kyiv a few days ago.
Beginning of the Russian invasion, the Ukrainian, like many, sleeps with one eye open. She spends part of her nights in hiding, sometimes in a bunker, sometimes in an underground parking lot transformed into a makeshift shelter.
“Already, we are getting used to the sirens of bombing alerts, she confides, her features drawn. When we know that the danger is not absolutely imminent, we move away from the windows or simply ignore them. »
Witness to history
In the past, Virginia Dronova took part in other historical events in Ukraine.
As a young adult, she took part in the “Orange Revolution”, which led to the cancellation of a strongly contested election in 2004, then to the pro-European demonstrations of Euromaidan, in 2013 and 2014.
But despite her political convictions, the adopted Quebecer found herself in her country of origin at the start of the invasion by coincidence.
She went there first and foremost to mourn her mother, who died of COVID-19 barely a month ago.
The decision to stay when the bombardments began was “difficult” to make, she admits, especially since her Ukrainian-born husband is anxiously waiting for her in Gatineau.
In addition, she has put her job on hold indefinitely and does not know when she will return to the life she has built in Quebec since 2020.
“I am not a heroine. I only sacrificed the comfort I had living in Canada to be with my people, family and friends,” the 39-year-old says.
“Forty years in three weeks, I hope,” she says.
waking nightmare
Reassured by the unity of the Ukrainians in the face of the invader, Virginia Dronova underlines the waking nightmare they have been living for a week.
Thousands of internally displaced people pass through the city where she is, in search of shelter, food or medicine. Volunteers do everything they can to help them.
“In Ukrainian, ‘hello’ is ‘dobryï den’. But no one says “hello” anymore. There hasn’t been a single good day since last Thursday. »