Oleh Rezanov was born on 16th August 1989 in Donetsk, Ukraine. Oleh lived in different cities of Ukraine: Sevastopol, Lviv, Zaporizhzhia. He had three attempts to get higher education, but has not yet received it. The man worked in various fields: from catering, construction, and trade, to journalism and translation. He has a disability due to hearing impairment. Until 24th February 2022, Oleh Rezanov lived in Zaporizhzhia. He was a disability-rights and LGBTQ+ activist.

THE BEGINNING

OF THE RUSSIAN-UKRAINIAN WAR

For Oleh, the Russian-Ukrainian war began in 2014. At that time, he lived in Sevastopol in Crimea, and his family lived in Donetsk. Therefore, in February 2022, he relived the experience of war.

Фото 2. Похмурий день. Посеред великої майже безлюдної площі стоїть «годинник закоханих» — прямокутна чорна стела на низькому п’єдесталі, що на кожній стіні вгорі має квадратний годинник. Пам’ятник увінчує невелика чорна куля. Із трьох боків від нього посаджені прямокутні газони з фігурно підстриженими кущами. Їхня зелень виділяється серед сірої плитки, що викладена ялинкою на всій площі. За «годинником закоханих» мерія — довга старовинна будівля молочного кольору. Вона має чотири поверхи, уздовж яких тягнуться пари однакових прямокутних вікон, та низький дах. Центральна частина мерії виступає. Передню частину її другого, третього та четвертого поверхів займає тераса з колонами. До цих колон прикріплений величезний український стяг. Сама ж тераса увінчана трикутним дахом, що на ньому майорить менший державний прапор.

The day before [24th February 2022 — editor’s note], I was already very worried… It so happened that I already had a very similar experience in Crimea [in 2014 — editor’s note]. The same tense, saboteurs and it was hard to understand what was happening… This year I realised that it was happening again. I was very, very worried. I was worried for a very long time".

During February, the atmosphere in Zaporizhzhia was tense. The man could see that, for his own peace of mind, he needed to look for another place. He started packing his things to move.

I remembered very well the year 2014 when I was leaving Crimea, when I had a whole bunch, an unthinkable bunch of belongings. Some of them I just carried on myself, and it was very hard. And this time, at the last moment, I sorted everything very quickly, took out old clothes and some things that I, in my opinion, not particularly needed and could buy later… Of course, I had to get rid of my books again. I love books very much. Although I have not had my own space, my own apartment for many years, I still collected them. They are scattered all over Ukraine [smiling — editor’s note]. I packed them up and sent them by Ukrposhta [Ukrainian national post service — translator’s note] in the morning of 23rd February to Ivano-Frankivsk, to my friends. I decided to sell some of my books through my social network page. And for myself, I took books in Polish because I was determined to improve my Polish. As a person who is partially deaf, I have devoted great effort and time to working with my language, in particular oral language, it is a very important point for me. I took a book by Olga Tokarczuk and a book by a transgender researcher, activist and writer, philosopher of Spanish origin who lives, if I am not mistaken, in France”.

On 23th February 2022, Oleh took a train from Zaporizhzhia to Lviv to pick up documents from the last university where he studied.

He was considering moving to Poland at the invitation of his friends.

On the morning of 24th February, Oleh Rezanov woke up on the train to a message from his mother announcing the start of a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The whole train was discussing what was happening. My neighbour in the compartment who was heading west from Zaporizhzhia region told me that everything on the left bank of the Dnipro was being shelled. It sounded quite apocalyptic. And, on the one hand, I could see that it was already happening, and on the other hand, I had absolutely no idea what would happen next".

Arriving in Lviv in the afternoon, Oleh was not able to pick up his documents from the university. He also could not understand whether he should stay and wait for the documents or go somewhere else. Oleh decided to seek help from his friends from Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk.

Фото 3. П’ять картонних коробок на паркеті біля світлої стіни. Внизу найбільша: квадратна, десь пів-на-пів метра. Згори чорна з-під міксеру Braun, приблизно вдвічі менша, а на тій низька прямокутна коробка з логотипом «Нової пошти». Поряд — іще така сама, тільки трохи менша, на чорній коробці з логотипом винного бренду Chateau Grona. Усі коробки пронумеровані синьою ручкою.

SEARCH FOR A SAFE PLACE

At first he stayed with a friend in Lviv. But at night from 24th to 25th February, he went to his friends in Ivano-Frankivsk. In the morning, Oleh managed to get to the city. It was his first time in Ivano-Frankivsk. The city seemed deserted and not very welcoming. Ivano-Frankivsk seemed to him similar to occupied Donetsk.

I associated Frankivsk with Donetsk during the war. After 2014, I went to Donetsk three times because my grandparents who raised me and who would not leave the city under any circumstances stayed there… So when I got to the apartment in Frankivsk, I was relatively safe. But it was forbidden to turn on the light, and stuff like that. And there was this depressing feeling that the whole world, the safe world, is shrinking to the limits of this apartment space”.

While considering with his friends what to do next and where to find a safe place during the war, Oleh Rezanov received a message from his friend from Zaporizhzhia with whom he had been living for two years. The friend with his mother and two dogs decided to evacuate to Lviv.On the night of 25–26th February, Oleh went by train to Lviv again.

Arriving in Lviv in the morning of 26th February before the end of the curfew, the man went for a walk in the city.

Фото 7. Біля ніг у джинсах сидить чорний лабрадор із білою грудкою та лапками. На ньому втеплена яскраво-жовта курточка та нашийник із поводком. Пес уважно зазирає в очі фотографа.

When I was wandering around Lviv, I realised that there was a constant strange sound somewhere in the background. I just kept walking down the street, and decided to check my phone, to look through the correspondence with my friends, our common talk. And my friends texted: ‘Lviv, air raid alert!’ — or something like that. And I suddenly realised that this sound somewhere in the background was an air raid [smiling — editor’s note]. At that time, I had absolutely no idea what to do in these circumstances. I was just standing on the street, there were some people around, but they were all going about their business. And then a kind of magical episode happened: I was standing on a small street in the old town, and suddenly the gate opposite me opened, some man appeared, looked at me and asked: ‘What are you standing here for? Let’s go to our pub!’ [laughing — editor’s note]”.

At 10.30 Oleh met his friend with his mother and pets at the railway station. Then they tried to get on the train to Przemysl.

It was one of the most dreadful scenes of this whole adventure because how it was happening was horrible. And despite the fact that women and children are supposedly evacuated in this way, I would not wish neither the first nor the letter to be in that mad crowd attacking this train and breaking through the restrictions created by the police. In my case, it was so that my friends understood right away that one shouldn’t go there with a dog — it was simply impossible and deadly for animals. So I was standing in the crowd, and there was an illusion that I could get in. But I didn’t manage because the police pushed me away. Outwardly, I look like a man without any visible disability. Thus, the police were shouting at me and pushing me in the chest, so I failed to get on that train. It was a bit… Not even a bit, it was terrible [smiling — editor’s note]. It was terrible because they push you away, and you have nowhere to go because there is a crowd behind you, pushing you, too. In the end, I barely, barely, barely escaped from there in some way. And we started looking for other options”.

After an unsuccessful attempt to get on the train, Oleh realised that the Ukrainian-Polish border was a too popular route among those who tried to save their lives. He and his friend decided to go to Uzhhorod and try to cross the border there.

Oleh posted in the group “Traveling Ukraine with dogs” in a social network, asking for help in evacuating from Lviv to Uzhhorod. He also added photos of the dogs. Immediately, there were people from Kyiv who agreed to take them.

CROSSING THE BORDER

After spending the night at a friend’s place, the next day, on 27th February, Oleh and his friend and family went by car from Lviv to Uzhhorod.

Immediately upon arrival, Oleh went to the crossing point on the Ukrainian-Slovak border in Uzhhorod. He had all his documents on disability and a copy of his military ticket which stated that he was “not subject to registration, not liable for military service”.

Фото 4. На аркуші паперу видно частину чорно-білого фото Олега та затверджений печатками напис: «Військово-лікарською комісією Центрально-міського ОРВК м. Донецька “24” лютого 2006 року визнаний непридатним до військової служби з виключенням з військового обліку за статтею 36 “а” гр. 1 наказу Міністерства оборони України № 207 1999 року. Повторному огляду не підлягає».

This military ticket was made in Donetsk in 2006 when I was 17–18 years old. The whole school was taken to the military commissariat to serve a medical examination and receive all these documents. Why did I have a copy of this ticket? Because in 2017, when I lived in Lviv, I was beaten and robbed in the summer, right in the middle of the street. And then all my documents were stolen, including that old military ticket. And, unfortunately, I did not have the original”.

The border guards let Oleh’s friends through but not Oleh. They said that the documents he provided were insufficient and advised to undergo another commission in Uzhhorod military commissariat.

Oleh stayed for the night in a bathhouse on the next street to the border crossing point. In the morning of 28th February, the man went to the military commissariat.

ФОТО 8 - Вечеря, фото для мами, Ужгород, 27 лютого 2022 року.

I had to undergo a medical examination again. But that medical commission wrote in the conclusion the same thing that was in my old military ticket. The same article, the same paragraph, and the same conclusion that I was not liable and excluded from military records. But along with this certificate from the medical commission, they wrote another certificate which contained this paradoxical wording that I have a deferment during mobilisation. That is, one paper stated that I was excluded from military records, that I was not liable, and the other that I had a deferral from mobilisation”.

After spending another night in the bathhouse, in the morning of 1st March, Oleh Rezanov headed to the Ukrainian-Slovak border again. At the pedestrian crossing point “Uzhhorod — Vyshne Nemecke”, there were no queues, and this time, Oleh with his documents was allowed to cross.

As a person with an invisible disability, I look very suspicious: when I talk, when I react to sounds, when I in no way resemble a disabled person. And during all these border crossing events, I didn’t use a hearing aid. Which means I heard almost nothing: in the military commissariat, at the border, during all this. I tried not to speak. To communicate only in writing, and not to show in any way that I could speak”.

slovakia

On the Slovak side, Ukrainian refugees were met by volunteers who fed them, distributed SIM cards of local operators, and helped them buy tickets for public transport.

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Oleh planned to get to his friends in Gdansk, Poland. From the border, he took a bus to the city of Košice in Slovakia.

Фото 9. На фото хмарне блакитне небо та частина скляної будівлі, на даху якої польські металеві літери утворюють назву Кошице. Під написом — стіна у вигляді гармошки з блакитно-зелених вікон. За написом — декоративна надбудова у формі паперового кораблика.

There he bought a train reservation for seven euros. The route to Gdansk included four transfers: Košice, Slovakia — Žilina, Slovakia — Bohumín, Czech Republic — Katowice, Poland. Oleh spent the night of 1st–2nd March in Katowice. And at 4 a.m. on 2nd March, he went by train to Warsaw.

Фото 10. На гранітній стіні вокзалу — віконечко з написом «Інформація для туристів», а під ним велика біла панель із пластику, на якій зображена блакитно-жовто карта України. У ній написи українською та польською: «Катовіце для України».

POLAND

In Warsaw, he was met by his friends who sheltered him for one night.

In Warsaw, I was finally able to wash and sleep for the first time in, I guess, three or four days. And in Warsaw, as soon as I recovered a little and slept, I immediately wrote this long detailed post-publication for the social network about how I crossed the border having a ‘sex: male’ in my passport and a disability. I was very outraged at that time by this whole situation when there was no detailed information, when everything was very contradictory. It was all terrible, in general”.

On 3rd March, Oleh Rezanov left Warsaw to visit his friends in Gdansk. They welcomed him very warmly and prepared a separate room for him. They even signed Oleh up for a consultation with a specialist at the Centre for Auditory Prosthetics and started raising funds for a special system to improve his hearing. Thanks to the involvement of various resources, this system was purchased.

After that, the man decided that he needed to change his place of residence.

By the time we finally raised funds for the aid, I was already sure that I wanted to go further. In particular because I have an international diploma in French. And, theoretically, this diploma gives me the opportunity to study in the French-speaking world. In Poland, I had nothing like that. I have explained to my friends many times that although I seem to talk to them so naturally (and people still need to be convinced that I can do a very good job of pretending that I am a person for whom oral communication is not a problem), in fact, for me it is connected with a huge work that no one sees, that no one pays me for and that I have to do. And I’ve explained that I had to work very, very, very, very, very hard with Polish language to feel confident. And I decided through, again, friends of my friends to try to find something in the French-speaking world… They advised me of a good alternative — Switzerland. Switzerland has a well-developed French-speaking part with universities”.

SWITZERLAND

Oleh Rezanov found an opportunity to evacuate to Switzerland with a Swiss humanitarian mission returning from Ukraine.

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To do that, he had to get to Przemyśl. He went there on 28th April. There he slept for three nights on an air mattress in a room with volunteers who worked in a centre for Ukrainian refugees.

Фото 13. Сонячний день. Уздовж газону тягнеться пішохідна доріжка, облицьована сірою плиткою. На ній, сперті на бордюр, стоять дві дорожні сумки: зелена й трохи менша синя.

On 1st May, in the afternoon, Oleh left Przemysl by bus with the Swiss Humanitarian Mission. They spent the night of 1st–2nd May in Brno, Czech Republic.

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In the evening of 2nd May, Oleh Rezanov arrived in Geneva.

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He is staying with a host family.

Фото 15. Біля п’ятиповерхового сіро-жовтого будинку стоїть залитий дощем дороговказ, на якому висить аркуш із зображенням прапора України. Під прапором — написи українською та англійською: «Центр проживання Будрі». Стрілка показує праворуч, у бік асфальтованої дороги поміж зеленими газонами.

Oleh managed to receive all necessary documents in Switzerland. Also since September he has been planning to make a fourth attempt to get higher education. He enrolled in a special program for refugees at the University of Geneva which provides language courses and support for all those wishing to study.

However, the fate of his relatives in occupied Donetsk and friends who remained in Ukraine remains a concern for Oleh.

Фото 16. До вікна, за яким сонячна зелена вулиця, приставлено білий стіл із блокнотами та ноутбуком. Перед його екраном сидить координаторка проекту Ганна, білява жінка в окулярах і з каре. На ній чорна квітчаста сорочка, два срібні ланцюжки та наручний годинник. Ганна розмовляє в «Зумі» з Олегом, який сидить за столом у світлій кімнаті й замислено дивиться вбік. На ньому картата синьо-біла сорочка й великі білі навушники.

I miss knowing that my friends and my close people are safe. This is what I miss the most. When you always have this background in your head that something terrible can happen, when you have this fear of reading a new message — whose life this notification is about? — it is, of course, a horrible experience. It is an expectation of the worst”.

Oleh Rezanov