These are a number of the tens of millions of messages Ukrainians wrote to buddies, household and family members as Russia invaded early within the morning of Feb. 24. The messages are a snapshot of a fateful day for Ukraine and Europe — capturing the worry, love and help shared within the first hours of warfare.

“I’m impressed by the humor, honesty, bravery and lots of ‘How are you’s and ‘I like you’s that had been stated on that day,” stated Ira Yaroshko, an writer who collected the messages on this web page and is writing a guide utilizing them. Textual content messages sure Ukraine collectively “like threads,” she stated.

Ms. Yeroshko, who was visiting her mother and father in Lutsk in northwestern Ukraine that morning, stated that she had herself began texting as quickly as she awoke and heard explosions. “I instantly knew what it meant,” she stated.

Many of the following messages have been translated, and a few comprise sturdy language.

Oleksandr Starun, 27, is a supervisor at a manufacturing unit within the Czech Republic. Mr. Starun is from Belarus however his grandparents dwell within the Chernihiv area of northern Ukraine. He wrote to a buddy, additionally in Europe, about their anxieties for kin in Ukraine and in regards to the televised tackle that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia delivered that day.

Vitalii Hordiyenko, 24, is a YouTube blogger. On Feb. 24, he was making ready to depart Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, and messaging with a buddy who was on his option to a navy commissariat to register with the military.

Lilia Turchyn, 33, is a decide’s assistant within the Lviv area, in western Ukraine. Her first messages had been along with her sister, who lived close to a navy base in Lviv. Afterward the twenty fourth, her sister moved along with her husband out of Lviv to a close-by city that appeared safer.

Petro Krushelnytsky, 27, works in Poland. He was in Warsaw on Feb. 24 and wrote to his brother, who had been referred to as again from a trip within the weeks earlier than the invasion and deployed from western Ukraine to the Dnipro area.

“I took out my cellphone and opened the information and it was a shock,” he stated. “The primary particular person I wrote to was my brother Mykola.”

On Oct. 16, 2022, the 128th Brigade, during which his brother served, led a counteroffensive from the Dnipro area in the direction of Kherson and “in a heavy battle, my brother died close to the town of Zelenodolsk. A few minutes after I came upon that he died, my mom referred to as me and it was the scariest name in my life.”

”My brother was a really form particular person,” he stated. “Sadly, it’s true — the most effective die in warfare. Now I’ve to dwell for 2 and discover a option to be glad, as a result of in any other case all these devoted lives will likely be in useless.”

Inesa Matiushenko, 33, is the co-founder of a charity that helps most cancers sufferers. Her first dialog was in English, with an acquaintance from the Netherlands — a person she had seen in particular person solely as soon as, with some others, a 12 months earlier.

“I used to be very shocked when he wrote me,” she stated. “He came upon in regards to the warfare and wrote all folks whom he knew from Ukraine and that was me. Was very scary then however even that one message it was about help which all of us badly wanted.”

She added: ”It’s important for me to recollect those that wrote me with help on at the present time.”

Inna Zhurba, 45, is an administrator at Cherkasy State Technological College, in central Ukraine. On Feb. 24, she was awoken by her colleagues’ messages, opened Fb and noticed many buddies writing that the warfare had began. She determined to not evacuate along with her 14-year-old son. “I discovered these messages now and began crying remembering that day,” she stated.

Pylyp Dotsenko, 31, is a photographer. He awoke to explosions in Kyiv, bought up and went on the lookout for a bomb shelter, photographing what he noticed alongside the best way. He referred to as his mom begging her to remain dwelling from work. He had cellphone calls with the household on the primary day and exchanged his first messages with buddies on Feb. 25.

Andriana Chunis, 32, is an illustrator. On Feb. 24, she was in Lviv along with her husband and 4-year-old son, Ustym. They directly determined to evacuate to their mother and father’ home within the countryside, as a result of they had been very scared Russia would possibly assault from Belarus.

“All day I spent on the cellphone with my buddies evacuating from throughout Ukraine,” she stated

“My buddy from Kyiv couldn’t go away, as there was no risk, so she simply put her youngster into one of many automobiles driving in our course and I took her youngster to my mother and father’ home along with one other 17 folks. She managed to get to us solely the following day. All of us slept within the basement and corridors. There was no time to fret as I needed to prepare dinner for 17 folks. On a regular basis somebody was washing dishes.”

Kateryna Pesotska, 30, a lawyer, awoke in Kyiv listening to explosions and began fascinated by evacuating along with her brother, Sasha. By Feb. 26, they had been already in Chernivtsi, in western Ukraine. Her father was in Mariupol, an industrial port in southeastern Ukraine that will quickly endure a brutal siege. On Feb. 26, they argued in regards to the warfare. “He was telling me that Kyiv will not be being bombed. This was our final discuss as a result of on March 5 he blew up on a mine on the seashore on the left shore in Mariupol.”