Two disasters. Experience of evacuation

Chernobyl and Russian invasion of Ukraine. How does the past work and what can a person do with it?

The daughter of the Chernobyl doctors, a former Kiev woman, journalist and translator Svetlana Kosova-Feigin helps Ukrainian refugees in France, being a citizen of this country. She was a “moved face” after the Chernobyl accident. She graduated from Voronezh University, then VGIK as a film critic, worked in Moscow publications. Emigrated at the beginning of the zero, lives in Nantes. He collaborates with the Kiev government publication “Voice of Ukraine” . I translated materials about the crimes of the Russian military in Ukraine.
Svetlana’s story about Chernobyl sounds with renewed vigor against the backdrop of the invasion of Ukraine. We start with children's memories: before and after Chernobyl.
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Experience of evacuation

-We moved to Pripyat when I was nine, and I lived there until 17 years old, until the accident, when we were evacuated. They said that there is no need to take any things with us, we are leaving only for two days. They brought to Kyiv, but then quietly said that they need to go - who has relatives where there are. On the way, we were checked at radiological control points. We went through dosimeters: if he cracked and went beyond the red line, you were sent to the shower and did not give their clothes, they were given what was called the "Chernobyl suit", then you rode in it. It was very scary. Glory to God, I did not share.
My parents were doctors. The accident at the Chernobyl station took place earlier, it was just hushed up, so the clothes were stored in the family in the closet, in plastic bags. They called his father at four in the morning and said: “A serious accident,” and he immediately closed all the windows.

betrayed what was called the "Chernobyl suit", then you rode in it

Maybe thanks to this we have passed radiological control. And then - what was it. When it got colder, I walked in a jacket of Uncle Viti, who was like a cloak to me. Then they bought with aunt Tamara, his wife, fabric, she sewed a skirt to me: she is still alive, my daughter walks in her. I had some kind of jacket. This was my only clothing, in it I entered the university.
We did not pass the exams. 10th grade, and the accident is April 26. No archives, we have not taken anything from school. Just parents remembered what children had. I had a certificate in Russian and Ukrainian, there are only "five". Dad said: "Well, in mathematics, something was not very good for her." Put the "four". And only then it became known that we added two points. So I entered the University of Voronezh.

no help to us then shone

We lived with Uncle Viti, in his small "Brezhnev" apartment: there are four of them and three of us (mom, brother and me) - seven people. No housing, no help to us then shone. Dad was not evacuated. He was the chairman of the trade union committee of the Pripyat medical unit, was friends with the head doctor, and he told him: "You are not a communist, not the head doctor. I have no right to order you." And dad answered: "I will not leave you." And from the first day, when he rushed, he worked on an ambulance, they took out firefighters. The deadly dose in the medical unit was already on the first day because of the firefighters who were brought there. Then they were in a helicopter - and took to Moscow.

The point of decontamination on the border of the thirty -kilometer zone of alienation, 1987

- Father did not hide what was happening, neither from neighbors, nor from acquaintances?

- Yes. The first explosion was dangerous, but not so. The next day, some kind of inner explosion occurred. The dosimeters went off scale on the first day, and even on the second ... We were not yet evacuated, on the radio they said that everything was fine, and on the basis, on the asphalt there was already a deadly dose. It turned out that there was not even a sufficient stock of iodine in the medical unit, they distributed a half -tablet. The nurses knocked on the door: "You must drink iodine." And people understood that this iodine did not just bring them that everything was serious. They removed children from the streets. And on the first day, I saw children in the sandbox with my own eyes. On the second day, the city is simply extinct. And on the third day in the morning we were evacuated.

We did not know that with dad, is he alive.

Then there was no mobile connection, and for about two months we did not know that with the dad, whether he was alive. In mid -July, he arrived in Voronezh, who had lost weight ten kilograms, with a red face (radiation gives burns). As it turned out, they made a medical point under the fourth block. It was when a helicopter there fell right on the block, when the soldiers carried it all on themselves - they all died later. Dad stayed with us a day or two, and drove back.
Mom tried to get a job in Voronezh for a long time. Then one kind aunt said to her: "Do not look for a long time. There is an internal order, the headquarters do not take you to work, so that you come back and work there." Dad arrived, and mom went back with him.

It was believed that it was necessary to drink red wine, that it saves from radiation, and got drunk

They lived in the pioneer camp "Forest Fairy Tale", three kilometers on foot in Irpen, there was our 126th Pripyat medical unit. There, from all over the Soviet Union, people drove the people to work with a rotational basis. People were very afraid. Everyone believed that it was necessary to drink red wine, that it saves from radiation, and got drunk. There was a lot of free love. Mom said that there was an explosion of sexually transmitted and gynecological diseases, her work was not in advance.

Pripyat. Repair and restoration work at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, 1987

-Some KGB officer had claims to his father?

- Yes, when they handed out iodine. The Kagabashniki arrived two days before the station exploded, filled our entire hotel. They put for ten years the head of the Bryukhanov station. He wrote two or three reports to Moscow - that the station is not ready for this experiment. Then the Kagabashniki arrived, and this was done by the power method: “We need this experiment.”
There are different versions, including conspiracy. Someone says: it was in order to receive plutonium for nuclear weapons. Someone says that we had an antenna (she is still now). A huge locator - now tourists are already being driven there - it was closed, it was secret, they spent a lot of money on it.

It was clear that this experiment could not be set

This project was some kind of utopia. And the Moscow boss wanted to hide it, otherwise Siberia shone him. Everyone fell on the negligence of workers, but this, of course, is not true. Engineers who worked on that shift died. There are various theories why the station exploded. Although it was clear that this experiment could not be set.

- The station did not explode by itself ...

- No. The pins were lowered there, but this could not be done. There were various experiments before, there were bursts of radioactivity. And officially, employees, even health workers, paid a salary 25% higher than other health workers who did not live in Pripyat.

Pointer at the entrance to Pripyat, 1991

- And what role did the city of Irpen play?

- He is near Kyiv: when you drive from Kyiv, you pass Irpen. And now right behind the Irpen is a zone.

- What feelings did you learn about the events in Irpen?

- Many memories are associated with him. My parents lived in this "forest fairy tale". We had no housing for a long time. I had to go somewhere: if I failed the entrance exams, I had nowhere to put me. And so I drive by car, and in French they tell me what happened in Irpen and Bucha, saying "Irpin". I stop at a traffic light and cannot go further. The past pops up, what is happening is imposed-and the state of complete loss, the feeling that something terrible has happened the second time. In France there were constant reports on ordinary radio, which people include in cars: every ten minutes they told us what was happening in Ukraine.

- Since February 24, there was immediately information about what was happening?

- Yes. I remember very well how Russia bombed Syria, killed children there, they were equal to the ground of the city. And when this madness began, when we went to Kyiv, along the whole border, it seems that they are now just as equal to the ground. Every morning began with a roll call with classmates, with colleagues-journalists, with relatives: "Are you alive? Are you alive?" Until the answer comes, I could not do anything. It was scary that they were already bombing in Kyiv. So they didn’t want to go from there! And I was afraid to say: "Open the Internet, the" Aleppo "pound. They:" I will not go anywhere. Slava Ukrainian! Peremoga behind us! Good will win! "

Irpen, March 2022

- We have no doubt about this, but we must openly look at the origins of political evil. The Russian political evil that has arranged a catastrophe in Syria is now trying to destroy Ukraine, intimidate the population and force the government to surrender. The method did not work. Ukraine, despite all the grief, losses, does not intend to give up at all.

- When I wrote to my colleagues that I returned from Russia to live and healthy, they answered me: "I will go! Glory to Ukraine!" These are people who were not evacuated, sat in the editorial office, slept there or in a bomb shelter, and continued to produce their newspaper. I translate for her, mostly what the SBU gives. Everything in Buch, for rape, everything that Russian prisoners tell is translated into several languages.

Instead of the Russian flag - skull and bones

At first, the editorial office did not give the Russian version, and I wrote to them: "Girls, why do you have no Russian? I understand that this is the language of the enemy, but it is necessary that the Russians read it." And since then, information has been released in their Telegram as: languages with the flags of countries, and where is Russian, instead of the Russian flag - skull and bones. This is the official newspaper of the Rada of Ukraine "Voice of Ukraine."

- You can also use the “Russian warship”. Do you help Ukrainian refugees?

- Yes. We have a help group in our Nante in Telegram. I gave an announcement: "Come, I have clothes, dishes." 15 people came with children, from different cities. They crossed the whole of Europe, reached the Atlantic coast. They were given hotels, free meals. But bureaucrats work slowly: in the early days they did not pay any money. Their Ukrainian maps do not work, hryvnias do not change. People turned out to be full and under the roof, but what they were, so I made out almost all the clothes, even the well -founded shampoos, soap and hair products dispersed.

They all speak Russian

When they began to come to me for some kind of shelf, I realized that people just want to talk: someone who speaks the same language called. They all speak Russian. There was a girl from raisins with a dog who spent a week in the basement until they were given a corridor. I met her in the city center, put it in a car, brought it to me. I cried, she cried, I hugged her and reassured her. Her brother remained in Raisins, and she somehow managed to run away.

Solidarity rally with Ukraine, Paris, 02.26.23

At first, people carefully asked questions: "Why are you helping us?" I explained to them that I was from Pripyat, I myself was evacuated at one time, I also had no clothes, and I understand perfectly what it was - to feel flawed. I was 17 years old, I was identified in the Voronezh school, and no one in the classroom communicated with me, I was called the "Chernobyl hedgehog". After that, I did not go to school, I went to my grandmother in the village. They simply did not come to me - they were afraid that they would become infected from me with radiation. It would seem that you are an injured person, but still experiencing some kind of shame.

You are a injured person, but still experiencing some shame

And all these memories rose to me, all as if again ... I understood these people who came to the country, most did not speak French. None of the Ukrainian women with whom I came across refused work that the French are going to. Everyone simply rushed to do something so as not to sit and not think where your husband, or not to remember, how they bombed your house. I also had women whose husbands are fighting right now.
One woman from the Dnieper said: when they were evacuated with a 13-year-old daughter, they collected their suitcases, and then these suitcases were thrown out of the train-there were so many people that they threw things away. They sat on each other to leave.
Everyone comes, apologizes. I say: "Yes, you forgive me!" And we all cry ... some later turned. Someone needs to be spent on the doctor, because you can’t get out of the village. To meet someone a parcel: buses come to us, right to Nantes. The driver brings the packages and takes people. Someone goes to Strasbourg, from there a large bus for Lviv comes, gathers them throughout France. There are people who return.

- You are now returning from Russia to France with a similar bus. Did you remember any meetings?

- A Russian woman - a pensioner sat next to me. She thought that I was also from Russia, and said to me: "While we were at customs, I met the Ukrainians. Do you know what was happening there? What is the nightmare! And we did not know anything!"

the family does not leave the TV, they can’t convince them of anything

On the Latvian border, I met a woman-she has citizenship both Russian and Ukrainian, she is also a pensioner, a former-therapist in the past. She said she helps Ukrainians. We talked with her, and she said: "Sour! Right there the Russians are around. Now they will hear - and they will put us in." I say: "Wait, we are already on the territory of Latvia. We are with our own, we can speak loudly here." She said that she lived with her son in Moscow: his family does not leave the TV, they can’t convince them of anything.

- How much was the mind of relatives and friends in Russia, impressions damaged the TV?

- As in 2014, when my daughter and I made their way to Voronezh, as partisans in the enemy camp. We did not call anyone, we were afraid to meet friends on the street. We had a neighbor in the country, like a normal person, and then suddenly she said loudly that all these were provocations of Americans, and so on. Dad lives in Voronezh, and his wife from Kyiv. And in 2014, my dad, who seemed to be a sober man, even fought with the KGB in Pripyat, and the USSR was always called in our family only “Councils” ... His TV was re -reduced so that Tatyana, his wife, stood on the stairs near the garbage lamp, while dad listened to “News” because she could not hear it.

People are divided. Some remained absolutely sober and sane, as they were in the 14th year. In the early days of the war, I had a fight with the closest friends (though we then made peace). "How could this happen that you live there, that is, you agree with this? You would either have left or somehow coordinated." And then I find out that these people were really cooperated among themselves, they began to gather to support each other.

They fly close, they can be seen, and they are very scary

In Voronezh, they were very scared by bringing nuclear missiles into combat readiness. People do not trust the government so much that they kept an ambulance suitcase in case the rocket falls on Voronezh. They told me that in the early days of the war the Internet was chopped off and there was an incredible hum, because the planes flew very often - they flew out at night from the Buturlin military airfield. And when I arrived, in Buturlinovka I saw these planes with my own eyes. These are reactive aircraft. They always flew there (there were teachings), but very high. And now they are flying close - they can be seen, and they are very scary.

Work of Boris Mikhailov, photo from his exhibition (s) Svetlana Kosova

- If we talk about friends of an anti -war circle, are there people who worked with refugees?

-My psychologist’s friend worked with refugees, but communication with them was limited, it was controlled. I asked the journalists: "Give through the memos that there is no law by which Ukrainians must give their passport when they demand this. There is no such law that they should be in Voronezh, they have the right to leave." And the people who know this leave, although with difficulty. Here a woman from Lugansk came to France: the corridor was given only to Russia. She reached St. Petersburg, from there by bus to Vilnius. They kept it on the border for a very long time. There were two more women, they were interrogated, but they insisted on their own: they know where they go, they are already waiting for them there. As a result, they were missed, because if people know their rights and, without being afraid, talk with representatives of the Russian government, they are being issued.

There is no law by which Ukrainians must give their passport

It turned out that the Ukrainians who were in Russia are afraid to contact any Russians. Who is he - this Russian? What can he say and what is impossible? And it seems in the Voronezh region there is a children's camp where children live without parents live. Where are these children? Where are their parents? According to the Ukrainian authorities, there are a huge number of them in Russia. There are children whose parents survived, they were simply divided.

- Your stepmother Tatyana is now in Kiev?

- She is in the country near Kyiv. She has three children and five grandchildren. When they began to bomb Kyiv, she wrote to me: "I am with my grandchildren, children at work. Explosions, hum and all this is terrible - what should we do?!" I write: "Run down to the basement." After some time, he writes: "I ran into all the cellars, they are closed." Then the children returned, and they left for the cottage. Of course, they bombed, she wrote: "It is impossible to fall asleep. We press the documents to the stomach and lie all night. It buzzes so that the glass is rattling." They survived, of course ... She was Russian by origin, born in Riga, her father was a military man, and then he was transferred to Kyiv, and she lived there all her life. I think she will never return to Russia again.

- What would you, as a person with experience with a moved person, could tell people who accept refugees help them?

- It is very difficult for us all. You need to do something. Главное – не корить и не стыдить себя, а постараться что-то сделать, хотя бы для самого себя. Когда ко мне начали приходить эти женщины, я им говорила: "Возьмите у меня хоть что-то. Не я вам помогаю, это вы мне помогаете". Всегда можно помочь. Люди откликаются, помогают украинцам, подсказывают, куда пойти, какие документы оформлять. В принципе, делают то же самое, что и мы во Франции. Главное – не сидеть сложа руки.

Светлана Косова, журналист и волонтер

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