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Life in Ukraine has changed in an instant.
On Thursday, Ukrainian officials reported that Russia had launched a “full-scale” invasion of the country after months of warnings. The first attacks began around 5 a.m. local time in various portions of the nation.
Liliya Marynchak, 45, recalled the moment a bomb hit her city Ivano-Frankivsk, where she serves as an assistant professor of finance at a university, early Thursday morning.
“From my window, I saw dark clouds and I hear that explosion and sirens. So I didn’t understand what’s going on,” Marynchak said Friday in a Facebook audio interview with PEOPLE. “I couldn’t actually understand what’s going on until on the local news they said, and also messengers. People were saying that the airport was destroyed.”
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Marynchak described the confusion and concern that ensued, telling PEOPLE, “You don’t know where to go, where to run, who you have to call. This is just panic.”
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Vitaly Vavryshchuk, 41, who works in investments in Kyiv, told PEOPLE that he was one of many that went about life as normal the day before the attacks began.
“Yesterday [Wednesday] we went to work, and my daughter went to school around 7:30 [a.m.]. We drive to the central district of Kyiv. My wife Natalya and my daughter drove and I left later and took the Metro … They were back home around 7 p.m., I came around 8:30 [p.m.], we had dinner, my daughter prepared for school [for Thursday].”
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But before they could continue their lives as usual, Vladimir Putin’s plan went into motion.
Russia began its invasion of Ukraine earlier this week, according to the Ukrainian government, with forces moving from the north, east, and south. The attack is still-evolving but explosions and airstrikes have been reported, with threats mounting against the capital, Kyiv, a city of 2.8 million people.
President Putin’s aggression toward Ukraine has been widely condemned by the international community, including with economic sanctions and NATO troops massing in the region. Putin insists Ukraine has historic ties to Russia and he is acting in the interest of so-called “peacekeeping.”
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“The prayers of the entire world are with the people of Ukraine tonight as they suffer an unprovoked and unjustified attack by Russian military forces,” President Joe Biden said as the invasion appeared to begin in force.
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To Flee or Not to Flee
Millions of people are in harm’s way amid Russia’s attacks on Ukraine. On Saturday morning, Ukraine health minister Oleh Liashko said on Facebook that nearly 200 Ukrainians have died following the invasion, according to NBC News.
Since the conflict broke out, many citizens have been tasked with deciding whether or not to leave, and how far they should go.
Marynchak has since left Ivano-Frankivsk with her daughter. The family is currently staying in a cottage outside of town with Marynchak’s mother and other family members as they await their next move.
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“We all are staying here and I don’t know how long it’s going to happen for us to stay here, actually,” she said. “I’m so concerned and I want to be home. I want to be home, but I don’t know what to expect.”
Meanwhile, Vavryshchuk is separated from his immediate family. He told PEOPLE that his wife and daughter have left the area to visit with his wife’s parents near the border of Romania, which he believes “is very unlikely to be attacked because it’s close to NATO territory.”
“What is most important for me is that my family is safe, that makes me very comfortable,” Vavryshchuk added, noting that it took his family 13 hours to complete a typically 7- or 8-hour journey west.
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One Ukrainian citizen, who did not wish to be identified, told PEOPLE that their family is seeking shelter in a basement not far from the city of Kharkiv, home to almost 2 million people. Nearly 50 percent of the city’s population, they said, “ran away to the western side.”
“Yesterday we wanted to run away like many others, but it doesn’t have much sense as they’re attacking all regions,” the citizen explained. “We stayed in traffic jam for three hours while moving out from the city and decided to stay and hide. As we didn’t know where we might [go] and if we will have enough fuel.”
Not everyone was able to flee. CNN Chief International Correspondent Clarissa Ward told PEOPLE that she witnessed hundreds of people gather at a subway station in Kharkiv shortly after the “steady stream of blasts” began Thursday morning.
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Many of those sheltering from the violence found creative places to sit, from the floor to some of the old, dark train cars parked at the station. “There were children, lots of kids, lots of pets,” Ward said. At one point, she spoke to a woman that had a car, but nowhere to go.
“And I think that really speaks to … the situation here. There isn’t anywhere safe right now to go in Ukraine. There are so many different cities and areas coming under attack, that people feel frozen in fear. And so these people were hunkered down,” she explained.
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Marynchak said she considered moving her family out of the country, but her children refused, especially her son. “He said it once and never changed his mind,” she told PEOPLE.
Shortly after Russia launched its attack, Ukraine closed its borders to men ages 18-60 and announced “total mobilization” against the invasion. Many families have had to bid loved ones farewell as they stay behind to defend the country as others seek shelter from the fighting.
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Though her son has yet to be called to serve, Marynchak says there is still a chance they will. It’s a conflicting situation for the mother of two, who loves both her son and her country.
“I can’t even tell you because from one hand I’m worried because I’m [a] mother and he’s my child, and I want him to be safe and to be alive. But on the other hand, I understand that if every mother thinks like that, there will be no people to protect us,” Marynchak explained to PEOPLE.
She later added, “I was so proud about our civilian men, old and young men, who go and try to help, who donate the blood, who bring all the provision, medicines, everything. Civilian volunteers and actually those who are willing to stand and willing to fight even with the weapon.”
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Vavryshchuk, however, is staying put. “I have my laptop, I have Internet connection, my company did all the backups on servers outside Ukraine. I no longer need physical access to my office. I will stay home and see what happens next.”
“If the situation gets worse, I will have to decide whether to join a resistance or leave. We don’t know what will happen in an hour so we don’t make guesses about what happens tomorrow,” he added.
Taken by Surprise
Russia’s invasion took many in Ukraine by surprise. The idea of an invasion, Vavryshchuk explained, “was something beyond imagination” despite knowing the risk of attack.
“There was no expectation that our lives would change in such a significant way just overnight,” he told PEOPLE. “Everyone is afraid because there is so much to lose if this escalation continues. It was a very powerful shock in the morning.”
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“We thought it was a geopolitical game and there would be a political solution,” Vavryshchuk later added.
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Marynchak was also floored upon learning of Russia’s invasion. “I can’t believe this. I really, I’m telling you, this is like a bad dream,” she told PEOPLE. “And I don’t know if I still can believe this is happening for real.”
“I just couldn’t believe that it happened because actually we were told that this may happen,” Marynchak later confessed. “But to the last minute, we couldn’t believe that this is for real … I can’t even imagine that in 2022, this may happen in the center of Europe.”
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For American paratrooper “J” and their colleagues with the 173rd Airborne Brigade, however, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was “more like a wakeup” call. The 25-year-old told PEOPLE that when Putin launched the attack, “the sense was, ‘He really went through with it.’ “
The paratrooper said the group “knew things could change up very fast inside Ukraine” after watching the situation intensify the week prior to the attacks.
“We had poker night last week, and everyone talked about Ukraine,” they recalled. “We took the Ace of Spades out of the deck. That card is bad luck. We kind of joked around, but we were serious, too. When does this turn into a bad hand for Ukraine? That’s the kind of talk it was.”
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Ward was struck by how many people were surprised by Russia’s attacks after weeks of warnings from the media and governments around the world, including the United States.
“We’ve heard particularly from the U.S. and the White House and the intelligence community, this assertion that Russia was going to invade Ukraine, but for people on the ground, it just didn’t seem real,” she told PEOPLE. “It seemed fanciful. It seemed impossible that Russia, which is a country with such deep, close, historical, religious, familial ties to Ukraine, was going to stage a bloody invasion. And in Europe in 2022. I just think most people didn’t believe it would happen.”
Family Ties
Many Ukrainians impacted by Russia’s recent actions have loved ones living over the country’s western border. As Marynchak noted, many Ukrainians are still in disbelief over Russia’s actions considering “we all used to be the same country, one country, long time ago.”
“My husband, he has close relatives in Russia and many Ukrainians have relatives in Russia. And many Russians have relatives in Ukraine. And many of them used to study in Ukraine or travel to Ukraine or have business in Ukraine,” Marynchak told PEOPLE.
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“And all of them know that we are so hospitable,” she continued. “We [are] always happy to have guests. We’re very friendly. We are [a] very friendly nation. And that’s why I don’t even … I can’t understand how it could happen.”
As Vavryshchuk explained, Russian and Ukrainian citizens “are quite friendly” with each other considering the family ties over their borders.
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“Russians can enter Ukraine without visas. Many people have family ties with Russian people. Kyiv is not a good example, but in Odessa, and in the largest cities in Eastern Ukraine, many people have relatives in Russia,” he said. “In Kyiv, more than 90 percent of people speak Russian … Nearly all large cities east of Kyiv are all Russian-speaking cities.”
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This, Vavryshchuk argued, “goes contrary” to Putin’s claims of attempting to protect Russian citizens. One narrative, he added, suggests that the Russian-speaking population is being held by restrictive measures, which he called “nonsense.”
“People are free to speak Russian,” Vavryshchuk told PEOPLE. “President Zelenskyy always speaks Russian and Ukrainian – he has respect for all the people whichever language they speak.”
Moving Forward
Now, many Ukrainians are trying to figure out their next course of action while others prepare or continue to defend the nation.
“J” and their fellow paratroopers recently arrived in Latvia after receiving a request to support the country as tensions rise nearby. They said many people were emotional upon their arrival.
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“We landed in Latvia early in the morning. It was still dark. The mood there was different,” they told PEOPLE. “It was intense. They were happy to see us.”
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Though “J” is hoping for peace, they aren’t ruling anything out just yet. “Do I think we’re going to war? Honestly, no,” the paratrooper said. “But if things get crazy, we’re here.”
Marynchak, on the other hand, is concerned about more attacks, specifically from the air, after discovering concerning markings that have recently appeared.
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“We are very worried about the special marks that, some people making these marks. They mark roads, they mark buildings, they mark even trees with some special paint and ultraviolet paint,” she explained. “We all are afraid that these are signs for an air attack, I believe.”
At the moment, the professor is not sure what her family’s next course of action is. For now, she is taking life “day by day” and hopes that the situation in Ukraine will eventually “change for [the] better.”
“I just hope that we all stay alive, this is first,” Marynchak told PEOPLE. “And I hope that … I don’t know what has to happen, what miracle has to happen to stop all this disaster, all this war.”
The Russian attack on Ukraine is an evolving story, with information changing quickly. Follow PEOPLE’s complete coverage of the war here, including stories from citizens on the ground and ways to help.
