After a few days of delay, one day in early March, Mr. Le Thai Ky (in the city of Odessa) decided to call his eldest son, 22 years old, who had just graduated from university and worked for a computer company in Ukraine into his house. room and said: “In such a war situation, you have to make a decision immediately. If you want to stay, my father will live with you. But you can’t let my mother and sister, My Linh, return to Vietnam on the day they have .”
Le Anh – his son’s Vietnamese name – half Vietnamese, half Ukrainian, frankly: “I can live here alone. The youths run away, I don’t want to. I am ready to stay. Dad just took mom and me.” At this time, his wife Le Lena dismissed: “If you go, go with the whole family, otherwise, stay and die together”.
Ky’s heart is full of tension right now, as he wants no choice. Leaving a son in a war-torn country, I don’t know what the outcome will be. If both sides continued to attack as fiercely as in Kharkov and Mariupol, communication would also be cut off. If you stay at home, you don’t know how to live or die?
“But My Linh is only 3 and a half years old, she must have the right to live,” Ky said loudly and decided tomorrow (7 March), 10 o’clock, he must leave Odessa, because this trip is also a dredging trip. Many Vietnamese in Odessa have fled their homes since last week, with Ky’s family being one of the last to stay. If you don’t make this trip, the chance to leave from here will be even more difficult because Odessa is an economically strategic city, strategically important for Russian troops.
Those were the tense moments of Mr.’s family. Le Thai Ky – Vietnamese living in the city of Odessa during the days of armed conflict in Ukraine.
The Ky family, as well as thousands of Ukrainians in general, and Vietnamese in particular, try to escape, when a special Russian military campaign begins, leading to days of living in separation. Anh Ky was forced to leave his first son – an adult for military service to protect their country; brought his wife and daughter back to Vietnam for refuge.
“It’s hard to imagine a more difficult decision than that. But situations like this forced me to decide to let my son stay,” Mr Ky told reporter Dan Viet, his voice still shaken after the trip.
Went to Ukraine to study more than 30 years ago, Ky married a local, he and his wife have two children. Years of standing and living here, Mr Ky has considered Ukraine as his second homeland. He also never thought that one day he would have to leave everything in this country.
Odessa where he lives is a port city, the third largest in Ukraine – one of the largest maritime traffic bridges in the country and a region with many large ports. The city has an airport and a naval command base. In recent days, the Russian military mainly bombarded the port, sirens sounded every day.
He told reporter Dan Viet, since the war broke out, he has been very interested in the points of contact, the situation of movement and the guide to border procedures that the Vietnamese people in Ukraine share in many forums. . Many of his relatives and friends from all over the world also called and asked him many times to advise him to leave Ukraine. But like several other families, he remains undecided as he keeps hoping “everything will be okay”.
But hearing the news of heavy fighting from everywhere, Russia attacked a series of targets in the capital Kiev, and at the same time blocked the path of the Ukrainian army to the Sea of Azov, and then there was a lot of information that the city of Mariupol, in the south of Ukraine, was besieged by Russian troops. , Ky decided to leave the country.
The whole night, Le Lena, his wife, was very depressed, she put her clothes in the suitcase and then took them out, making her impatient, he had to comfort her and constantly urge her.
On March 7 – the last morning leaving Odessa, Le Lena refused to leave. She kept crying, refusing to prepare clothes, nervous tension. “At 10, my wife had a heart attack, couldn’t breathe and had to call an ambulance. But calling an ambulance at a public hospital can’t be because they say the war situation is chaotic, there are no cars, and in the end you have to call. For private hospitals, the prices are very expensive. After the medics finished the injection, the taxi was also waiting, I just hurriedly put some clothes into the suitcase, the girls only had time to put their clothes on temporarily, then went to the meeting point”, Pak Ky reminisced about the tense moments before leaving the house.
At this time, the entire Vietnamese group was also waiting in the car, many people were impatient. Some people run and load their luggage so the car can turn quickly.
The car drove out of town. On the street, most shops, restaurants and offices were closed. The situation was chaotic, cars packed the roads, then armored vehicles and military vehicles. The sandbags are divided into sand walls erected at the city entrance, the door or window of every house, on the street. At the intersection, the car stopped for inspection. The sound of car horns and people running away made everyone feel bad.
“Police with guns carefully control vehicles that enter the city, they are afraid of guns. Our car was lucky to take a shortcut that day, so we didn’t have to queue, we didn’t have to cross the ferry. . We went from afternoon, then all day. That night, we reached the border, “Ky recalled the difficult journey to escape the war zone.
“The plight of the people who fled at that time was heartbreaking,” he said. Thousands of people tried to cross the crowded border for tens of kilometers, waiting for hours in the cold in their cars. Many people have to carry their luggage and walk through the night in the snow and cold to reach the border, hoping to find a place to seek asylum.
They were jostling, choking, their faces missing, unsure. Some people don’t seem to know how to react to the current situation, due to a lack of documents or procedures, but are unable to leave Ukraine. “I’m just feeling scared,” one woman said desperately in the cold, cutting meat at the border, she said.
“Across the border there is a very heartbreaking scene. Many men let go of their wives and children and have to return. A man cries when he is forced to hand over two small children to the border guards at the checkpoint. I have to go back to Ukraine, I don’t know when I will see them again. They are too young. Since we are Vietnamese, we can get out of the border easily,” Ky said, his voice still not full of emotion. “I don’t know if I’ll be back, I don’t want to leave, but it’s very dangerous to stay,” said a helpless woman as she waited to cross the border.
Arriving in Romania, the entire group, including Mr. Ky, warmly welcomed by the Vietnamese community and refugee support associations, arranged accommodation and took them to Vietnamese refugee camps. Refugee accommodation is sometimes basketball courts, sometimes student dormitories, in poor material conditions. Vietnamese volunteers brought food, medicine and warm blankets. Many people, after receiving aid and relief goods from Vietnam, shed tears.
Ky and his wife were lucky enough to be taken to an unfinished house. Dozens of people huddled together, spread out mattresses on the floor, staying together for several days waiting for flights to save the Vietnamese. Living with his family, several families and some young people went to Europe to seek refuge.
On March 16, his family, like many other Vietnamese, were flown home to escape the war zone.
“Going to the airport, I heard the news that this place was under siege, at that time my emotions were very mixed. Getting my wife and kids on the plane was safe, but still stressful. , I don’t know what happened to the child. If something happens, I can’t intervene, my child is still small,” Ky told Dan Viet reporter, his voice still confused. Because he himself doesn’t know when he will see his son again.
Returning to Vietnam, the joy of “escape from death”, seeing relatives again, mixed with anxiety about the next life. Like many Vietnamese families who came to live in Ukraine, when they fled, the whole Ky family left all their houses, assets, vehicles…
“We only know how to put our lives first. The only possessions we have with us are some clothes, some necessities, medicine and a little cash left,” Ky said.
He said that although he was Vietnamese, he lived in Ukraine for 30 years and was married to a Ukrainian wife, so he was used to living there. Now back in Vietnam, he doesn’t know how to start life.
“In the near future, my husband and I are thinking of renting a house to live in, because living with my brother is only a few days, we can’t live long. But then, as difficult as it was, we got over it. , if we are still alive.” , Ky said in a voice full of hope.
at Blogtuan.info – Source: Eva.vn – Read the original article here
