In 2014, the war overturned all the plans of Luhansk resident Olena Romashkina and radically changed her life. Olena says that while those around her still didn't believe a war would start, she had already felt its cold breath back in the autumn of 2013, just by observing what was happening. Still, on the eve of disaster, Olena was making plans—she had just given birth to a child. But in the summer of 2014, she was forced to evacuate the occupied city. With her one-and-a-half-year-old baby. At first, they went to Bila Tserkva, where they had friends, and later – to Kyiv.

Olena returned to Luhansk a few more times to visit her father, and then – his grave… She recalled how, while walking with her baby in a stroller, she used to tie blue-and-yellow ribbons to trees, not even thinking about how dangerous that was. Later, she began receiving threats for her patriotic posts on social media. That was when she fully realized that her hometown had become foreign to her.

A job at a bank and caring for her child helped her adapt more quickly to the new place – and eventually led her to change careers. After receiving a second degree in religious studies and completing tour guide courses, Olena found her calling in museum work.

She was preparing to work in the capital, but the full-scale war in 2022 once again forced her to evacuate for a while. Olena says that the full-scale invasion of our country was a serious ordeal for her. The train that her mother was taking to evacuate to western Ukraine came under fire… Olena and her child spent a month living abroad. But she didn’t want to stay there for long. She returned to Kyiv.

Olena works as a senior researcher at the Museum of Theatre, Music and Cinema of Ukraine.  Her story is not only about the war, but also about how museums have become a platform for uniting people around shared cultural values.