Thread by @ukraine_world

🏠 The story of Natalie Al Baz, whose family fled a 🇷🇺-occupied village and started a new life in an abandoned house in a small hamlet.

Before the full-scale 🇷🇺 invasion, the family lived in their new house in the village of Tsyrkuny near Kharkiv.

#UkraineWorldTestimony 1/14

On Feb. 24, 2022, the village was occupied, so they evacuated and settled in an abandoned house in a khutir (a small rural settlement).

Natalie is now restoring this house and showing the process of its renovation on her Instagram - instagram.com/khutoraesthetic 2/14

However, Natalie, her husband, and their 5-year-old daughter still had to live the first week of the war under occupation. The fact that they were able to leave was a miracle. 3/14

On February 24, at 5 a.m., Natalie woke up to the cold, the sound of fighter jets, and the sound of explosions that were getting closer. Her body began to shrink in fear, and she felt compelled to pray. 4/14

Their house had already lost electricity, their gas heater and water pump were not working, and there was no heating. Their Internet and mobile connection had disappeared. "It was as if we were in a cold vacuum, without a clear understanding of what was happening. 5/14

The house was gradually getting colder, and we didn't buy groceries in the evening, nor did we buy gasoline, hoping to do so in the morning," Natalie recalls. 6/14

A little later, Natalie managed to find a place in the yard with mobile service and called her relatives. This is when it became clear that this was a real, terrible war. 7/14

The 1st thing in the morning, Natalie's husband decided to go to the gas station in the city, because there was almost no fuel in the 🚗. He was gone for 3 hours on a trip that usually takes no more than 10 min. There were huge traffic jams and lines of cars everywhere. 8/14

On the way out of Kharkiv, back home, Natalie's husband was stopped at a checkpoint by the 🇺🇦 military because Tsyrkuny was already under occupation at that time, & the frontline was between him & home. Fortunately, he was able to get home by driving off-road through a field.9/14

On a narrow street in the village, an enemy tank drove toward him. Thankfully, he managed to back up, driving in reverse for another 100 meters and avoiding the tank. Unfortunately, not everyone was so lucky. 10/14

"There were constant 💥 & the sound of gunfire near us. It sounded very close, so I immediately taped all the windows crosswise to calm down and to prevent glass fragments from flying around too much if something exploded nearby. But we were still very scared," said Al Baz. 11/14

Since Natalie’s 🏠 was getting cold quickly without electricity, the 🌡 in the kids' room was about 6°C. The family decided to sleep together in the bedroom, where it was at least 12°C. Natalie, her husband, and daughter slept under all the blankets and bedspreads they had. 12/14

Every day, missiles were flying closer and the range of enemy weapons was expanding. The front line was 500-1000 meters from the family's house, and sometimes even closer. The sound of missiles was almost constant, joined by machine guns, tanks, and Grads. 13/14

On the 5th day of the war, a rocket hit a house 500 meters from Natalie's home. She saw it burning. The family was again gripped by fear and helplessness. The situation was getting worse.

➡ Read the full story on our website: ukraineworld.org/articles/stori…

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