The Russian citizen was fed up with Putin’s government and left her home country six years back to move to Ukraine. There, she raised funds for children and women whose homes were destroyed by years of fighting between Ukrainian forces in the Donbas and Russian-backed separatists.
She fled her adopted Kyiv, fleeing Putin’s invading forces, and was again on the move this week.
“It looks as if I’m a double refugie now because I first fled Russia because I was against Putin,” Olena said. She spoke under the condition that her first name be used to protect her and her family from reprisals. “I fled Russia and then Russia came to Ukraine,” she said.
After three nights in a bomb shelter and the sound of explosions echoing, Olena and five other colleagues fled Kyiv. After a three-day, grueling flight, they arrived in Budapest on Thursday.
Olena, who was sitting on a train in Zahony, Hungary’s border town, before she left for Budapest, said that she had been to anti-Putin demonstrations in Russia but realized that “Putin will only rule as long as he live.” So I voted with my legs and left.
According to her, she moved to Ukraine because of the Maidan Revolution of 2014, which saw protests that led to the ouster Viktor Yanukovych, the Russian-backed president of Ukraine.
She said, “As long Putin is in power I will not go back.”
However, Ukraine was no longer an option — not for her nor for the hundreds of refugees who boarded trains for the five-hour journey to Budapest from the border. Numerous volunteers offered food, transport, and accommodation to them.
Olena was glad to be on friendly ground, but her future looked uncertain. “I don’t have a home and I don’t know where I’m going to go.” She said, “I just have to believe.”
After Ukraine blocked Russian citizens’ bank accounts, she lost her access to her money. She feared that they might be used to finance Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“I can understand their motives, as they fear that the Russians will use these funds to fight. I am a civilian. She said that she had lost all her income and all my sources of income, and that my bank account was also lost because of the Russian passport.
She claimed that her passport caused her problems when she traveled from Kyiv. Some Ukrainians viewed her as an enemy and expressed hostility.
She stressed, however, that many Russians oppose war and that she hopes people will “separate the government and common people who don’t want the fight.”
She said that Ukrainians are like a family. We can’t fight against each other. Putin is our real enemy. While I did not like Putin when he came to power, I didn’t know the full extent of his madness.”
Olena and her coworkers were offered a place in Budapest’s leafy suburbs on Thursday. It’s a welcome retreat.
“We don’t hear any explosions anymore. She said that sirens are not heard every two hours. “We don’t have to pack our stuff and rush to the bomb shelter.” “When we crossed the border, it was so liberating to know that we were alive and safe.”
