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!
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