In this exclusive new monthly blog series, Anastasiya shares her firsthand experiences of navigating the digital advertising industry in Ukraine during wartime. Gain unique insights into the challenges, resilience, and innovation she and her team experience and how they are shaping the industry in unprecedented times.
11th March 2025 - Nightly alerts have become our new norm. Most often, these are drones aimed at the central, eastern, and southern regions, and sometimes even the western ones. Once every 5-10 days, this is a shelling by strategic aviation missiles. And from time to time, ballistics. There may be 2-5 days in a month without alerts for Kyiv. But they will definitely be in other regions on these days.
In most cases, drone attacks are repelled by special mobile groups and anti-aircraft troops. Strategic aviation missiles are repelled by air defense systems, anti-aircraft missile troops, and aviation. As for ballistics, here we need quite advanced systems like the Patriot or SAMP/T. And this is the biggest danger in the city after the cessation of US aid.
I often think that I should make a mini video about our typical nights with air raids, but when an air raid warning sounds, the only thing I feel is fatigue and a desire for normal sleep. This is a constant feeling of a mother of a newborn baby, a mother of twins. Usually, we get a message in the mobile app and an SMS from the Ukrainian authorities about the need to go to the nearest shelter. Also, the siren is clearly audible in our area.
The biggest difficulty is that the alarm starts in the range of 10:00 pm to 3:00 am and it is extremely difficult with children who have already fallen asleep to go, for example, to the metro, which is a fairly reliable shelter. And some stations in the centre of Kyiv are shelters from a nuclear strike. And although I live in the central part of Kyiv, where two metro stations are within 4-5 minutes of accessibility, in reality, we use the metro as a shelter only when the alarm finds us on the street. That is, we stay home at night.
My youngest son, who is 7 years old, goes to bed right away in the sauna. My middle daughter is a teenager, she fights all the time when I force her to go to the shelter at night. My eldest daughter lives separately, but she always writes to me on messenger that she is in the corridor or bathroom. But I don’t sleep, I control what type of alarm because there are conditionally more dangerous, less dangerous, and very dangerous. The ballistic threat or Kindzal launches are extremely dangerous, they reach Kyiv in 4-7 minutes, and with a direct hit, the chances of survival are close to 0. But if the debris falls from the shot down, then there is a high risk of broken windows, in this case, home shelter saves. In the case of drones, we are informed about which area of the city they are heading to, accordingly, it becomes dangerous for us when they find themselves in neighbouring areas. Usually, we inevitably hear the work of mobile groups, you can see pink flashes and they look very similar to an illustration of battles from Star Wars or Babylon 5. Early modifications of drones were much slower, so if it flew to the left bank, then most likely it did not reach the right bank. Now drones can make several circles around the city and fly to a neighbouring region.
When there is a massive targeted attack on Kyiv, you can’t sleep at all, because you can hear the work of the air defense, usually moderately audible for drones, but loudest for ballistics. Drone attacks are the longest in time, sometimes from 10 am until morning. The ballistic threat is about 20-40 minutes.
In the morning we receive a message from the school. Usually, if there is still an alarm at 7:30, then the children go to the second lesson. If the alarm is delayed, sometimes to the third. Since the first attacks on the energy infrastructure began, which often end with emergency power outages, I always prepare breakfast in the evening and take the multicooker to the shelter. My power station allows us to heat up food in the multicooker, even if there is an emergency power outage.
Before the end of the day, our most popular influencer Nikolaevsky Vanyok, who is an anonymous military man, writes “Air siren all clear, you can visit WC and go to sleep”. This has become a real code phrase for the end of the day.
What can you do to make your life and condition easier in daily attacks? First of all, do not postpone anything, at least take supplements such as Magnesium, and at the slightest sign of a psychological disorder, increased anxiety, or depression, consult a doctor. Chronic sleep disorders are also dangerous, so you should also seek medical help. Maximise the comfort of a sleeping place in the shelter. Last year, I bought separate orthopedic mattresses and used a humidifier. If you are very tired, immediately lie down in a shelter, without waiting for the sound signal, this will allow you to fall asleep again faster in case of an alarm. If possible, lie down for 30-60 minutes during the day. And remember that those who do not wait and do not postpone their lives for the future, but live life here and now, will survive.
Stay tuned for more powerful stories coming from Anastasiya soon!
