Growing up during the fall of the Soviet Union, Anna, who now lives in Berwick, says nationality was never a conversation she had with her friends.
“Nobody cared, nobody ever asked your nationality,” she said.
Now, the mother of three says she “can’t accept” that her native Russia, and neighbouring country Ukraine, are in the midst of a bloody war.
“These two nationalities are absolutely inseparable. It’s like you are family, or brothers, and all of a sudden you have to kill each other,” she said.
“I have cried so much over the last week. It’s absolutely devastating.”
Among those caught up in the war are Anna’s friends Victoriia and Andrey Plugin, their daughter Tina Bankin and her young family.
“We holidayed to Crimea with the family in 2008, we never thought this could happen,” she said.
“I never thought in the 21st century people would be killing people.”
Last week 26 year-old Tina fled Kyiv by car with her three year-old son Max, driving for six days and waiting in an 84-hour queue to enter Poland. Left behind was husband Viktor, who is contracted in the military and is not allowed to leave Ukraine in case he is called upon to fight.
“She drove for 1000 kilometres straight, she was so scared and running on adrenaline,” Anna said.
Anna said Tina and her son have been “well looked after” by Polish locals and are applying for refugee status.
Tina’s parents, Victoriia and Andrey, are stuck in Kyiv, in a house in the southern end of the city with five other families, aged between one and 68 years-old.
The families say bomb sirens ring like bells “every hour or two”, and they are forced to shelter in their food storage basement each time.
“They told me they now know the difference between the sounds of a plane, a missile and a bomb,” she said.
“The men take turns leaving the house to collect medicine and groceries, but they are running out of money because they can’t work during the war,” she said.
According to Victoriia, supermarket shelves in Kyiv are almost empty, and food and petrol prices have increased significantly.
To help ease her friends’ dire situation, Anna has been sending personal savings – which she was planning on using on a holiday for her own family – to Ukraine.
“We have some savings so obviously it will go to them, but we are an ordinary family just making ends meet,” Anna said.
While Anna is determined to do more to help her friends, she says she is worried her ability to help is restricted by her Russian heritage.
“We still have family and friends in Russia, and we are worried that [openly fundraising] will affect our ability to go back there,” she said.
So, Anna has reached out to the local Berwick community to assist in fundraising efforts.
“I talked to my director at work and he was very kind to offer some support,” Anna said.
She is also in talks with local Timbarra P-9 College and Berwick Flames Basketball Club to organise fundraising opportunities.
“We’ll do as much as we can to help, just as we would with any other cause,” said Berwick Flames president Kevin Rapley.
“Just because [Anna] happens to be Russian, doesn’t mean we won’t help her. She doesn’t want the war either, she’s just collateral damage unfortunately.”
Anna has set up a GoFundMe page to assist her friends in Ukraine in affording basic necessities. If you would like to donate, head to gofund.me/2b264579
