Nadja and Bogdan Holowacki, originally from Ukraine, have been living in Boxtel for years. Bogdan drove thousands of miles over the past few days to pick up Nadja’s sister. She still lives in the country where the war broke out, but fled to Poland last week. Nadja’s brother stayed behind, he is not allowed to leave Ukraine.
A long drive. Bogdan drove over a thousand kilometers with his sons to pick up his sister-in-law. And the same distance back again. They would have preferred to take another passenger with them; Nadja’s brother. But men must stay in Ukraine to defend the country from the Russians.
Nadja: “I have two dear people, my brother and sister. And nobody else. Those two people are everything to me. My mother passed away in 2019. I insisted on having my family with me, but I only partially succeeded. My brother had to stay behind. It’s very exciting. Every day the sirens go off and he has to hide in a basement.”
Her brother is in Lviv, in western Ukraine. Most of the fighting takes place in the capital Kiev. “But it’s not safe in Lviv either. The whole country is being bombed. And it’s incredibly busy, because everyone from all over the country has fled west in an attempt to flee the country. He still has food and drink for a few days, but the supermarkets are not supplied,” Nadja says emotionally.
She is overjoyed that her sister, Oksana Lazarenko, is here. He says that she first wanted to stay in Ukraine. “I was woken up by a friend when the Russia attack started. I quickly withdrew money and filled up with petrol, because I knew there would soon be panic. But I wanted to stay.”
But she changed her mind when Nadja called crying. “She made a plea and asked me to cross the border as soon as possible. I have my friends and my cat there. All my life is in Ukraine. I had doubts, but heard bombings and knew that the situation would not get better .”
She picked up her cat Buba and went. Oksana doesn’t fully realize what has happened yet, Bogdan says. “She actually wants to go back in a few weeks, to Kiev where she works. But that has been bombed.”
It’s all unreal, says Nadja. “My heart breaks, I never expected war. And now my dear sister is here, but my brother is not. We are in contact with him every day via Whatsapp. I don’t know how long this will last or if he can keep it up. I am very concerned.”
All three are happy with the help and support of the Dutch. Oksana: “During the journey I saw a blue-yellow illuminated bridge, in the colors of my country.” Nadja: “Putin tried to tear Europe apart, but since the war we have become one.”
She was actually supposed to fly to Ukraine on February 28 herself. “For the first time since the corona crisis. I wanted to visit my mother’s grave and my brother and sister. But fate has decreed that I am not there, but my sister here.”