"Our father said, 'You need to leave, follow your dreams, take care of each other."
Like millions of Ukrainians, tennis player Dayana Yastremska has had to flee her country and leave everything behind. Brut spoke to her as she gets accustomed to a new country, unsure of when she can see her family again …
Like millions of Ukrainians, tennis player Dayana Yastremska has had to flee her country and leave everything behind. Brut spoke to her as she gets accustomed to a new country, unsure of when she can see her family again …
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Hi, my name is Diana Yastremska, I'm 21 years old and I'm from Ukraine.
00:15For Brut, I'm going to tell you the story of Diana Yastremska.
00:18She's a Ukrainian pro tennis player who fled the war and arrived in France with her 15-year-old sister Ivanka.
00:30She asked me a lot of times if our parents are going to watch our match today, but we don't know.
00:35Maybe they have to be somewhere in the parking, underground.
00:44The father decided to send them away, despite their wish to keep the family together.
00:49Now they have no idea when they'll be able to go back to Ukraine,
00:52and the only way to get in touch with their parents is by video or phone call.
01:01Hello?
01:04Hello?
01:06Yes, Dasha.
01:08Hi, dad, they're filming us.
01:10Where's Ivanka?
01:12Ivanka?
01:14Ivanka, come here.
01:16Okay, let's go.
01:18Yes.
01:21Good luck.
01:23Bye, dad.
01:25Bye, dad.
01:27Take care.
01:30They're lucky.
01:32There is no siren yet, so they're at home now.
01:36They say in the bathroom they put the mattress from the bed,
01:39and now they're lying there in case if the bomb comes, it's not going to go to the windows.
01:46Their story is that of hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians who fled the Russian invasion
01:51and who decided overnight to leave Ukraine.
02:00Time's good.
02:02Good, time's good.
02:12On the 23rd of the night, I woke up because of the bombs.
02:18I went to my father, I asked what is going on, and he said the war has started.
02:25On the 24th, late night, my father made the decision that next morning, early,
02:33me, my sister and my mother, we're going to leave by car to Romania.
02:40He was like, no, I'm not going to leave the country.
02:43I want to stay at home with you and mother.
02:45I don't want to leave.
02:47That was my first reaction.
02:50We drove around maybe three hours, and it was so scary to drive
02:55because you never know, maybe the bomb will be somewhere there,
02:59or maybe you're going to meet on the road someone, or maybe tanks,
03:03or I don't know, it was super scary.
03:08We went through the Izmail, and we arrived by car there.
03:14We arrived by car there, and then we took the boat to go to Romania.
03:29The boat was maybe seven minutes.
03:31We had to just cross the river.
03:36It was so emotional because you can see your parents on the other side of the river,
03:42and you go to the safe place, and your parents are staying there.
03:48I didn't want to pause from the beginning.
03:51I've done that just because I wanted to share and leave this small story in my Instagram.
04:05It was super sad because when we said bye to each other with parents,
04:11father said that you girls need to leave, you need to follow your dreams,
04:17you need to build your future, and you need to take care of each other.
04:22It's very painful.
04:24I will never ever in my life wish to someone to feel how is it to say bye to your family in the war.
04:34After more than 24 hours of traveling by boat, car, and plane,
04:38they arrived in the French city of Lyon.
04:40Dad, we found a flag.
04:42We wanted to go to the store with Ivanka, but there was a gathering of Ukrainians,
04:47and we asked for one flag.
04:50We wanted to buy it, but we didn't have the money.
04:53Where is Ivanka's flag?
05:03It's a little bit dirty because we were rushing today,
05:06and we like to eat a lot of sweets.
05:10Here is the room where we sleep.
05:17Here is the Ukrainian flag.
05:21Ivanka took it.
05:31I also have some toys that have been with me for years,
05:36but this time I just didn't have enough space for them,
05:43and everything was so fast that there was no time to think about the toys.
05:53It's her! She ate everything.
05:56You ate the chips yesterday?
05:58No.
05:59You are?
06:00No.
06:02I don't want her to walk alone somewhere.
06:06Plus, parents told us to always stay close to each other.
06:18I got a message from Ukraine.
06:20If you hear this signal in your city,
06:25please go fast to the closest underground.
06:30Take with you food, water, documents, and warm clothes.
06:36In the morning I feel like they are more sad,
06:39and during the day it's getting better,
06:41because in the morning they call with the parents,
06:43and they talk about how they were hiding during the airstrikes,
06:49which are happening in the night.
06:51I can't imagine how they feel,
06:53but I'm trying to ease it a little bit for them.
06:57Yes, right?
07:02And please, when you start playing, take this off,
07:05because it will be tough breathing.
07:07I know.
07:22I never ate this kind of burger.
07:25It's something new.
07:28I like double cheeseburger.
07:30It's tough to be here, because you feel bad,
07:34but you need to keep yourself positive,
07:36and you need to smile and pretend like everything is good.
07:41This is hard.
07:45From the side you can see that I'm looking normal, but no.
07:51It's better I don't talk about what is inside me.
07:54I have a lot of thoughts like that,
07:57why I'm not there with the family in my city,
08:02why I'm here safe,
08:04and people are there surviving and fighting for our lives.
08:07I have those thoughts a lot.
08:11If I wouldn't be a tennis player,
08:15I would stay there in my city for sure, with the family.
08:21After Lyon, Diana and Ivanka have more competitions lined up,
08:24but they don't know when they can see their family again,
08:27or where they will live in the weeks and months to come.
08:31When I left Ukraine, and we were already in Romania,
08:35I felt like the war is going with me, you know?
08:40It's like following me.
08:42Yeah, it's following you.
08:44You go to sleep, you wake up, and it's war.
08:48You don't know what to expect from this world.
08:52It has to be stopped.
08:54How we say in our language?
08:57Нет войне.
08:59No war.
09:02Everybody is saying that now.
09:04So, I hope there will be peace in the world.
09:14I hope you found this documentary interesting,
09:16and if you want to see more, go to Brits' page,
09:18leave a comment, I read them.
09:20See you soon!