Martin Antonenko
A Fixture
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2008
- Messages
- 8,994
My History Of War
February 24, 2022
For most of us, the Russian invasion of Ukraine is a TV news item or talk show subject, with the usual suspects brawling with the usual arguments.
Not so for me!
As you know, my beloved Tanja comes from the (now not quite so) beautiful Odessa in the Ukraine.
We got married on January 5th and on February 1st she had to go to the German embassy in Kiev to apply for her permanent visa. Processing takes between four and 16 weeks. This is because the relevant immigration authorities (in our case in Bremen) have to be involved.
Normally you have to leave your passport at the embassy - and then get it back with a visa.
Since the Russian deployment was already in full swing at that time, I wrote to the German ambassador personally and managed to get Tanja to take her passport back with her while it was being processed.
Otherwise she would not have been able to leave the country legally!
Since then she sat in Odessa and waited while the Russian deployment continued.
Unfortunately, even then it was clear to me that there would be war, because nobody in their right mind would transport 180,000 men with all their equipment west from the Siberian military districts so that they would not be deployed.
And there's a lot that can be said about the Russian tyrant, but one thing for certain: he's not an idiot, the KGB didn't promote idiots to colonels!
However, Tanja and her family - like probably most of us - did not believe in war - if at all, then in the Donbass, a limited Russian intervention.
But for this giant army? I had a different opinion and we actually had a fight.
I said the same thing almost every day: Get out while you still can! And Tanja could have done it: I got the plazet from the embassy that she can enter here as a tourist for 90 days without a visa, as long as she doesn't have her visa yet. And she will get it, because they can only refuse in marriages of convenience!
I finally managed to convince Tanja's older daughter, who flew to Barcelona on February 22 with her husband and eleven-month-old baby. That looks like "vacation" and not like "escape". And I know people there who want to help them.
Tanja's younger daughter didn't want to go at all, she just didn't believe in a war! And Tanja didn't want to be without her daughter either.
After endless back and forth, I was able to book Tanja a flight to Berlin, which would have gone on the evening of the 25th. Her daughter wanted to stay in Ukraine, she couldn't be persuaded!
The day before the flight, the 24th, at exactly 4:09 a.m., came the Russian declaration of war. They were finally convinced and BOTH wanted to leave - only there were no more planes and flights, everything was closed and cancelled!
Fighting raged throughout the day in Odessa - a Ukrainian naval base near the port was razed by Russian warships - and in the city itself savage gunfire broke out between pro-Russian militias and Ukrainian police. Five dead officially. So at least. Was there in 2014 before. At that time 49 dead.
Russian Attack on Ukrainian Navy Base, Odessa...:
We then agreed together (thank God the FSB hasn't shut down WhatsApp yet) that they should get away with the car.
Not over Kiev, there was total chaos, plus air raids and ground fighting nearby, and especially not to Poland, because half of western Ukraine converges on the border there.
Instead we decided they should make their way through the Carpathian Mountains on back roads to Moldova at night! Two frightened women - and another woman with a child who has joined them.
Above all, they were not allowed to take the wrong turn in the dark and on unfamiliar streets, because in the area there is still the so-called "Djnestr Republic" or "Transnistria" with the "capital" Tiraspol, which has broken away from Moldova - and that's also where the Russian army is located , which on the 25th also shelled targets in south-west Ukraine. Then they would have fled into the jaws of the lion, so to speak!
February 25, 2022
00:05 h after a four-and-a-half-hour drive (to be on the safe side, on small side roads!), Tanja is standing in a six-kilometer queue with the car and companions at the Starokasatche ("Old Cossack") border crossing somewhere in the middle of nowhere on the Moldovan-Ukrainian border. It's progressing, but (for me) excruciatingly slowly!
She writes: "We're fine, don't worry! Everyone helps each other."
But if even a single Russian military vehicle shows up, the just-ordered line will turn into a roaring mob of panicked people. That's what I'm afraid of at the moment!
At 12:53, Tanja sent me an SMS that she had finally crossed the Ukrainian border and was in Modawi with her companions - so she was safe.
Incidentally, the long waiting time was not due to the Modawians, on the contrary, they were extremely helpful! Normal people cleared out their pantries and carted the contents to the border to take care of the refugees.
Chapeau!
However, the Ukrainian border guards searched every car before it drove over - and took all the men between the ages of 18 and 60 out of the car. General mobilization, ban on leaving the country for all men who can carry a weapon. They have to go to the front, whether they like it or not!
Reminds me of the "Volkssturm" - and I'm afraid that will be just as useless as it was in 1944/45. There will only be many victims.
There was a small or larger drama with every car - hence the long waiting time.
At 5:20 p.m. my sweetheart, her daughter and her companion with the child were finally in Kishinev. Her Route is shown in the following map (blue pointed line). The airport is still closed due to the close fighting.
February 26, 2022
My wonderful Tanja and her companions are currently sleeping in a small cheap hotel in Kishinev and are recovering.
In the morning (Saturday) we will discuss how to proceed.
If Kishinev Airport remains closed, the best option will be to drive to Bucharest (470 km) and from there fly to Germany.
It doesn't matter where! I'll be at the airport to pick you up, no matter where it is!
I've been sitting at the computer almost non-stop for two and a half days, looking at street maps, calculating routes, watching and analyzing the news, combing through flight plans and communicating with Tanja practically around the clock - and keeping in touch with her other daughter, who is with her husband and eleven-month-old baby escaped the fury of war to Spain on the last flight that left Odessa.
From what we hear, the Ukrainian army is faring far better than all "experts" predicted. In the south (where the main attack from Crimea on the city of Mariupol took place), the Ukrainians gave the Russian bear a mighty kick in the tail! Likewise in the east, where the attack came from the Donbass.
That's where the best Ukrainian formations are, that's where the main attack was probably expected.
However, it came from Belarus, via Chernobyl to Kiev!
There is fierce fighting in the city, with apparently individual Russian tankers who will stop at nothing!
Civilians are said to be taking part in the fighting and throwing burning petrol bottles at Russian tanks from houses.
The TV appeal by the obviously pissed-off Russian tyrant to the Ukrainian army to overthrow the "clique of drug-addicted neo-Nazis" (as Putin called the Ukrainian government) will not bear fruit.
There are reports from Bremen that children of Russian origin are bullied and attacked by other children in schools. As if they are guilty...
And don't tell anyone this article is too "political"!
I'm only writing here what the war does to completely innocent people who have never harmed anyone in their lives!
War is a crime - and whoever starts a war is a criminal! This has nothing to do with politics - but with common sense.
February 24, 2022
For most of us, the Russian invasion of Ukraine is a TV news item or talk show subject, with the usual suspects brawling with the usual arguments.
Not so for me!
As you know, my beloved Tanja comes from the (now not quite so) beautiful Odessa in the Ukraine.
We got married on January 5th and on February 1st she had to go to the German embassy in Kiev to apply for her permanent visa. Processing takes between four and 16 weeks. This is because the relevant immigration authorities (in our case in Bremen) have to be involved.
Normally you have to leave your passport at the embassy - and then get it back with a visa.
Since the Russian deployment was already in full swing at that time, I wrote to the German ambassador personally and managed to get Tanja to take her passport back with her while it was being processed.
Otherwise she would not have been able to leave the country legally!
Since then she sat in Odessa and waited while the Russian deployment continued.
Unfortunately, even then it was clear to me that there would be war, because nobody in their right mind would transport 180,000 men with all their equipment west from the Siberian military districts so that they would not be deployed.
And there's a lot that can be said about the Russian tyrant, but one thing for certain: he's not an idiot, the KGB didn't promote idiots to colonels!
However, Tanja and her family - like probably most of us - did not believe in war - if at all, then in the Donbass, a limited Russian intervention.
But for this giant army? I had a different opinion and we actually had a fight.
I said the same thing almost every day: Get out while you still can! And Tanja could have done it: I got the plazet from the embassy that she can enter here as a tourist for 90 days without a visa, as long as she doesn't have her visa yet. And she will get it, because they can only refuse in marriages of convenience!
I finally managed to convince Tanja's older daughter, who flew to Barcelona on February 22 with her husband and eleven-month-old baby. That looks like "vacation" and not like "escape". And I know people there who want to help them.
Tanja's younger daughter didn't want to go at all, she just didn't believe in a war! And Tanja didn't want to be without her daughter either.
After endless back and forth, I was able to book Tanja a flight to Berlin, which would have gone on the evening of the 25th. Her daughter wanted to stay in Ukraine, she couldn't be persuaded!
The day before the flight, the 24th, at exactly 4:09 a.m., came the Russian declaration of war. They were finally convinced and BOTH wanted to leave - only there were no more planes and flights, everything was closed and cancelled!
Fighting raged throughout the day in Odessa - a Ukrainian naval base near the port was razed by Russian warships - and in the city itself savage gunfire broke out between pro-Russian militias and Ukrainian police. Five dead officially. So at least. Was there in 2014 before. At that time 49 dead.
Russian Attack on Ukrainian Navy Base, Odessa...:
We then agreed together (thank God the FSB hasn't shut down WhatsApp yet) that they should get away with the car.
Not over Kiev, there was total chaos, plus air raids and ground fighting nearby, and especially not to Poland, because half of western Ukraine converges on the border there.
Instead we decided they should make their way through the Carpathian Mountains on back roads to Moldova at night! Two frightened women - and another woman with a child who has joined them.
Above all, they were not allowed to take the wrong turn in the dark and on unfamiliar streets, because in the area there is still the so-called "Djnestr Republic" or "Transnistria" with the "capital" Tiraspol, which has broken away from Moldova - and that's also where the Russian army is located , which on the 25th also shelled targets in south-west Ukraine. Then they would have fled into the jaws of the lion, so to speak!
February 25, 2022
00:05 h after a four-and-a-half-hour drive (to be on the safe side, on small side roads!), Tanja is standing in a six-kilometer queue with the car and companions at the Starokasatche ("Old Cossack") border crossing somewhere in the middle of nowhere on the Moldovan-Ukrainian border. It's progressing, but (for me) excruciatingly slowly!
She writes: "We're fine, don't worry! Everyone helps each other."
But if even a single Russian military vehicle shows up, the just-ordered line will turn into a roaring mob of panicked people. That's what I'm afraid of at the moment!
At 12:53, Tanja sent me an SMS that she had finally crossed the Ukrainian border and was in Modawi with her companions - so she was safe.
Incidentally, the long waiting time was not due to the Modawians, on the contrary, they were extremely helpful! Normal people cleared out their pantries and carted the contents to the border to take care of the refugees.
Chapeau!
However, the Ukrainian border guards searched every car before it drove over - and took all the men between the ages of 18 and 60 out of the car. General mobilization, ban on leaving the country for all men who can carry a weapon. They have to go to the front, whether they like it or not!
Reminds me of the "Volkssturm" - and I'm afraid that will be just as useless as it was in 1944/45. There will only be many victims.
There was a small or larger drama with every car - hence the long waiting time.
At 5:20 p.m. my sweetheart, her daughter and her companion with the child were finally in Kishinev. Her Route is shown in the following map (blue pointed line). The airport is still closed due to the close fighting.

February 26, 2022
My wonderful Tanja and her companions are currently sleeping in a small cheap hotel in Kishinev and are recovering.
In the morning (Saturday) we will discuss how to proceed.
If Kishinev Airport remains closed, the best option will be to drive to Bucharest (470 km) and from there fly to Germany.
It doesn't matter where! I'll be at the airport to pick you up, no matter where it is!
I've been sitting at the computer almost non-stop for two and a half days, looking at street maps, calculating routes, watching and analyzing the news, combing through flight plans and communicating with Tanja practically around the clock - and keeping in touch with her other daughter, who is with her husband and eleven-month-old baby escaped the fury of war to Spain on the last flight that left Odessa.
From what we hear, the Ukrainian army is faring far better than all "experts" predicted. In the south (where the main attack from Crimea on the city of Mariupol took place), the Ukrainians gave the Russian bear a mighty kick in the tail! Likewise in the east, where the attack came from the Donbass.
That's where the best Ukrainian formations are, that's where the main attack was probably expected.
However, it came from Belarus, via Chernobyl to Kiev!
There is fierce fighting in the city, with apparently individual Russian tankers who will stop at nothing!
Civilians are said to be taking part in the fighting and throwing burning petrol bottles at Russian tanks from houses.
The TV appeal by the obviously pissed-off Russian tyrant to the Ukrainian army to overthrow the "clique of drug-addicted neo-Nazis" (as Putin called the Ukrainian government) will not bear fruit.
There are reports from Bremen that children of Russian origin are bullied and attacked by other children in schools. As if they are guilty...
And don't tell anyone this article is too "political"!
I'm only writing here what the war does to completely innocent people who have never harmed anyone in their lives!
War is a crime - and whoever starts a war is a criminal! This has nothing to do with politics - but with common sense.