We’re finalizing this text on the 100th day of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Unimaginable.
This might have been the hardest text we ever had to compile as it seemed to have taken us back in time.
4:30 am, 24 February
CEO, LA: “Sure, Jasmine can try to reach out to her. Please check if you can receive tomorrow in the office — Bohdan can drop them off”
5:30 am, 24 February
COO, Kyiv: “Dear, hi. Explosions are heard throughout Kyiv. Putin has declared the beginning of a “special operation”
CEO, LA: “I know, I can hardly breathe. Hold on!”
We’ve scrolled through our chats to see how happy and full of energy we were on the 23d of February. Sharing work stories, trying to guess the brand behind the creative campaign, planning the articles, laughing at Diesel’s edible panties.
Working 24/7 and joking all the time.
The jokes would follow us into the war as well — building up the walls around our suffering subconscious and fueling us with the power we all desperately needed.
Only the content of all the other messages changed.
24th-26th
Our team is situated in different countries: Ukraine, USA, Canada, India.
We have a family-like collective and since 6 am we’ve been constantly in touch: who’s moving where, where do we hear explosions, what cities are rumored to be under shelling or already taken.
Our CEO in LA was sending us the tips and info while colleagues from abroad took over the workforce and every team member in Ukraine searched for at least some kind of a plan.
Literally one of the messages to our colleague in Canada “Hi hon! Russia started its full invasion of Ukraine so it’s highly unlikely Anna will do an interview today. But who knows.”
Our chats exploded with: “We see the air-fighters from Belarus on our way”, “The Russian are entering the city where my father lives”, “It’s so scary, we don’t know where to go”.
The first several days were one of the hardest to live through — nobody knew what was happening or what might unfold. There was so much information flooding in from different outlets saying “they’re gonna take Kyiv tonight — next night. We just have to hold on for this weekend. Or week.”
One of our colleagues went from Kyiv to Hostomel which was heavily bombed and attacked by Russians, staying there with little to no connection and a constant threat to life.
The house of the other colleague’s parents in the East was destroyed into pieces.
Street fights and explosions were happening in Kyiv 5 minutes away from the house of the other.
Most of us had to travel through the country — 26 hours on the road with no sleep or tightly packed into a westward train full of panic and distress.
These were the days of despair and fear. But also the days of unbelievable unity and trust.
On the 28th our team started pulling itself together to go back to work to spread the truth and help our country, and this is what we have been doing ever since.
Our colleague in Lviv hosted several others, coming from Kyiv. We created a new system of information, wrote texts and collected information together, creating a united front.
There is no amount of words that could describe all of the experiences Ukrainians have been through — and our team can be considered amazingly lucky in comparison to many others.
Sadly, we got used to so many things: air-raid sirens, fear, news about destruction, deaths, deceit, and many more. The heartbreaking news. And all the Ukrainians are learning to live with this heartbreak.
But we’ve also learned how many incredible people there are around us. How much love, warmth, strength, and bravery.
And there is one thing we know for sure: every Ukrainian knows what he’s fighting for, on any front they are — fighting for our freedom and our country, and will never give it up to the self-deluded dictators or people coming here with no aim and purpose.
The war started 8 years ago and is not over. And it’s important that everyone remembers this fact. As until we do — the fight keeps going, bringing us one step closer to victory.