The primary went from civilian to army life. The second utterly modified languages. The third bravely helped maintain the nation transferring alongside its rail community lifeline.
Not a single Ukrainian was left untouched by the Russian invasion, which began on February 24, 2022.
Three of them spoke to AFP about what they lived by means of, and the way the warfare modified them.
Sergiy Osachuk, governor-turned-fighter
On the evening of the invasion, then-governor Sergiy Osachuk, who had been briefed about an imminent assault, slept with one eye open.
“I used to be woken up by explosions and messages on my telephone that Russia’s full-scale assault on Ukraine had begun.”
The governor of the western Chernivtsi area traded his sensible enterprise go well with for army fatigues.
Osachuk turned lieutenant colonel of the State Border Guard Service, which in peacetime patrols Ukraine’s borders.
There, the 50-year-old coordinates work with different branches of the army — and places himself within the line of fireplace.
“In the intervening time I am happier right here than if I would needed to keep as a governor. It is a massive accountability.”
Osachuk was a Ukrainian reservist when the warfare began and pissed off that he couldn’t join immediately.
“Within the first half of the yr, I organised the mobilisation… in Chernivtsi. Daily I urged folks to hitch the armed forces,” he says.
“When my time period of workplace got here to an finish on July 14, I instantly joined up. It is a massive honour for me to be among the many Border Guards working to get again Ukraine’s borders.”
Osachuk says he plans to remain within the army for so long as it takes, viewing it as his and each citizen’s obligation to defend Ukraine till victory is gained.
Dashing by means of Bakhmut, which Russian forces have tried to seize since final yr, he says: “That is the place the place the destiny of each Ukraine and the free nations of the world is being determined.”
Kateryna Musienko, reconnecting by means of language
Earlier than the warfare, Odesa resident Kateryna Musienko spoke solely Russian and even appeared down on these utilizing Ukrainian or “Surzhyk” — a mixture of the 2 languages.
However “all the pieces modified” when the warfare began, the 24-year-old says.
In March, her grandfather was killed in a Russian assault in Odesa.
“I used to be so overwhelmed. I did not really feel grief… solely disgust and hatred for all the pieces Russian associated.”
“As a lot as I used to be an aggressive Russian speaker, I turned an aggressive Ukrainian speaker, with out compromises, and irrevocably.”
Her dad and mom and boyfriend additionally transitioned to Ukrainian — and so did quite a lot of compatriots.
Musienko advocates for the destruction of monuments to Russian poet Alexander Pushkin and altering avenue names linked to Russia.
She has additionally created an NGO for the safety of the Ukrainian language.
“Language lives and develops solely when it lives in on a regular basis life,” she explains.
“If our kids don’t converse Ukrainian, the language will die.”
She needs her organisation to organise “video games, debates, lectures, programs, dialog golf equipment, festivals” and hopes that there shall be a “mass motion” of individuals changing to Ukrainian.
“Not by pressure, after all, however by asking questions, reasoning,” she says.
Andriy Yeryomenko, on Ukraine’s lifeline
The warfare left its mark on practice conductor Andriy Yeryomenko.
“My beard turned gray,” jokes the 53-year-old, sitting in a practice carriage in his blue uniform.
Coming from a protracted line of railway employees, Yeryomenko remembers the primary moments of the invasion, when his workforce — together with his spouse — evacuated hundreds of compatriots.
“Folks had been afraid, they had been all in a state of shock: youngsters, canines, cats, adults, previous folks,” he tells AFP.
“We took on anybody we might. There can be 10 or 12 folks in compartments meant for 4.”
His practice would cross the huge nation, typically with headlights switched off, carrying traumatised folks to relative security.
Ukrzaliznytsia, the nationwide rail system, stored working even below shelling, sustaining the nation afloat.
Many Ukrainians have praised “hero” rail employees on social media.
However Yeryomenko, whose two sons are on the battlefield, sweeps that apart.
“We merely did our job,” he says, “none of us burned any tank, took down a aircraft or shot a Russian.”