In the spring of 2022, a photograph of a girl sitting on the table above the abyss in a bombed-out flat with a panoramic view of Chernihiv city went viral in a matter of hours. The girl on the photo was Oleksandra Berezhna. A bomb hit the building on 3 March, and at that moment, the girl and her partner happened to be in the epicentre of the explosion. They survived by some miracle.
I have been fond of photography since my childhood. I really liked capturing some moments of life, and then this hobby grew into some kind of job. I bought a camera, and now I am doing it professionally.
That day we were in the building. We already went down to the basement to stay there for the night because the 18th floor is the last one. I felt unsafe there, and our friends let us into their flat on the 13th floor. On that day, in the morning, we went to cook some food and freshen ourselves up. The owner of the flat came in to make some coffee for the territorial defence unit’s soldiers.
We saw a plane through the window and heard an explosion. I don’t really remember that moment because we were all thrown on the floor at once. There was a lot of dust.
Thank God, everyone survived, while all the doors were blown out. A meter or so closer and everything could have ended in a more tragic way. Thank God, everyone remained alive. In our house, some people got only some minor injuries by fragments of glass, but thank God, there were no fatal casualties, while in the neighbouring house, there were many dead. What saved us was probably the fact that the house was rather new and it turned out to be strong enough, so everything worked out that way. The strike occurred on 3 March and we left Chernihiv probably on 8 March.
We went on foot from Chernihiv to Anysiv village, near Chernihiv, and then volunteers gave us a lift to another town. I don’t remember its name. Then we were taken across the river because that was the safest way home.
We came to Chernihiv, to our house, to pick up our things (my partner and me). When we climbed upstairs to our floor, 17th floor, for the first time, we saw this panoramic view right off, so to speak, as there were no doors. That flat was our neighbours’ flat next door, and we came in. As soon as I caught sight of this table, I realized right away that I wanted to take this photo. I quickly made up a script in my mind and literally a minute later, I sat down hastily for a moment, because it was scary to be sitting near the abyss. We did it in just a minute and went further on our chores.
To be honest, being under the influence of adrenaline, I did not even think that it was dangerous. Only later, when I looked at the photo… I probably would not do that if I was there now, but in the surge of those emotions, I did not feel that fear then. In the evening, when we got home, I looked through the photographs we took. But I did not even look at the photos when we were there [in the flat]. So, having seen this photo, I immediately “airbrushed” it. I think the reason why this photo became so popular was that it had such a fitting caption:
«Each of us looks something like this inside»
I think that is the perfect phrase for this picture. In fact, each of us looks like this; everyone feels the pain. And in a few moments, social media picked up this photo and it went viral. I did not even expect it so much... So much attention to this photograph.
The moment when a bomb hit our house, I filmed it on my phone. That is, right after the explosion, I picked up my phone and filmed it all. In fact, this video helped us a lot, because it is a direct evidence of a crime against civilians, and many authorities asked us to share this video with them.
Now my partner, myself and our dog live at my parents’ place, in Chernihiv region, 70 kilometres from Chernihiv. Everything is calm and quiet here now, but previously russian troops came here too. Some neighbouring towns were occupied, but our place was not occupied. The river saved us, so to speak, because they could not enter here.
I am grateful to God. I don’t know whom else I should be grateful to... I am grateful to everyone that it turned out this way and now, in fact, we value our lives in a little different way.
The problems we had previously are now just a trifle. We think a little differently of them now. Certainly, I want to return to my city. We want the victory for Ukraine soon, so that we could come back with peace of mind, as it is difficult to do so morally now. And for now, we have been living on. We are trying to get our life going, working online. And we appreciate our life more than ever.
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