She will probably never return to Ukraine and is integrating as best she can in France to rebuild her life. Viktoriya was in Kharkiv, in the east, when Russian tanks entered her native country a thousand days ago, justifying this aggression as a “denazification” of the kyiv regime.
Since then, this 39-year-old woman has settled in Hyères, in the Var, where she found a job, friends and is in a relationship. “Now, I want to stay in France because this war will last a long time, not counting the time it takes to rebuild the country,” she confides to 20 Minutes. She looks back on these almost three years which changed her life.
A long and perilous journey to leave Ukraine
After weeks of rising tension and the accumulation of Russian troops on the Ukrainian border, on February 24, 2022, explosions were reported in kyiv, Kharkiv, Odessa and Mariupol. Vladimir Putin has just launched what he still thinks will be a blitzkrieg military operation. Viktoriya's life, like that of so many other Ukrainians, turns into the unthinkable. After two weeks, while her city was bombarded daily, she decided to imitate her approximately 4.4 million displaced compatriots, according to the UN, and leave for safer regions. Life in Kharkiv has become unbearable. “We hid in organized bomb shelters in the basements of multi-story buildings and in the subways,” she recalls.
All that remains is to flee out of Ukraine, far from the bombs. The journey is “very long and dangerous, everyone wanted to get out, everyone was panicked,” she emphasizes. Viktoriya is then accompanied by a friend and her two daughters. All four drive to the western town of Kamenets-Podolski.
After getting closer to the border with Romania, this professional saleswoman can still return home quickly. But seeing that “the situation is only getting worse”, the two friends decide to leave for good. “We crossed the border between Ukraine and Romania on foot, then we traveled by bus and train to Spain, for almost three days,” she says. At this time, the two women still hold out hope for a short conflict and an imminent return. But faced with the evidence, they must find a more lasting solution than Spain, where they are welcomed by friends.
In France, she starts from scratch
Acquaintances are already in France and invite them to cross the Pyrenees to reach Toulon. This is how in March 2022, Viktoriya sets foot on French soil for the first time. She doesn't know the language or the culture. “When we arrived in Toulon, we contacted a social organization helping Ukrainians. They provided us with complete information on what we needed to do and how to complete the documents. The prefecture granted us our residence permit,” she recalls. A title that she must renew every six months.
The language barrier prevents him from applying for job offers involving contact with a client. So for months, in parallel with French lessons provided by France Travail, Viktoriya managed to get by thanks to part-time jobs “in the agricultural sector, selling grapes”.
Her progress in French finally allowed her to dream a little bigger and Viktoriya began to look into her branch: the sale of sanitary ware, furniture, tiling and lighting. Bingo. A company in Hyères first employed him on a six-month fixed-term contract, now transformed into a permanent contract.
« I have been working as a sales assistant for a year and a half, I am very happy and very grateful that they gave me such an opportunity. They believed in me, even if I don’t speak French very well.” »
His “heart is in Ukraine”, his “future in France”
Viktoriya also managed to surround herself with friends, both Ukrainian and French. Even if it is “difficult to start your life again at 37 in another country, with another language and with people with a different mentality”, the thirty-year-old feels “well integrated” and “intends to build there [sa] life “. There remains a constant concern for his country, his people. In his Ukrainian entourage, the subject of war punctuates many conversations. Every day, she watches the latest information on the conflict. Viktoriya is especially worried about her mother, who still lives in Donbass. A region under Russian occupation, where fighting has become rarer but which is almost impossible to leave. “I really want her to come here to France but at the moment, it’s very difficult,” she notes, hoping to be able to see her again soon.
Our file on the war in Ukraine
A reunion which can only take place outside Ukrainian borders according to her, because Viktoriya is convinced “that the war will last a long time”. “My heart will always be with Ukraine, but above all I want to stay safe and I want to build my future here.”
