Filmmaker's Encounter with Ukrainian Refugee in Moldova

Six Australian filmmakers are travelling the world in search of a story, each tasked with making a weekly short film for ABC iview's Race Around The World.

This is contestant Elliot Constable's experience from his week one travels in Moldova.

Tatiana's phone buzzes on the table in front of us.

"Russian strikes are coming," she says, "they are going to hit Brovari, a town close to my home."

She received the alert from a communications app that monitors Russian attacks against Ukraine. They have different chat groups for different regions across her country.

During Russia's full-scale attack on Kyiv in 2022, Tatiana fled the country with her mother and pet bird. Her older sisters stayed behind, concerned that their limited language skills would make it difficult to find safe work. Under martial law in Ukraine, most men aged 18 to 60 were not allowed to leave the country, so Tatiana's father stayed, too.

When Russian soldiers stormed the city, Tatiana witnessed almost incomprehensible horrors.

Forced to take to the streets in search of makeshift shops that sold homemade bread, lollies and bottled water, she saw human suffering that will always haunt her, including 30 people trapped inside a burning bus.

"There was nothing I could do to help."

After weeks of sheltering in the apartment, Tatiana and her mother decided it was time. They placed her lorikeet in a box, packed a bag of essentials, and set off towards the border. Many families did the same.

The roads were chaotic. Some cars took a wrong turn and drove straight into Russian positions. Families wrote signs and taped them to their windows saying "children inside don't shoot". Many didn't make it, but Tatiana and her mother did.

At the time, human trafficking in Moldova was a serious concern, which made the border crossing and areas around it particularly dangerous for women. But they made it through and spent a few years as refugees in Türkiye and Georgia before eventually settling in Chisinau, Moldova.

And that's where I am now — in the centre of Chisinau in a little coffee shop, sitting across from Tatiana.

She scoffs at her phone. "Russian p*****" (Ukrainian slang for "f***ers"). "They've launched Iranian Shahed drones, and they will strike in an hour."

She's so matter-of-fact about it that I must make a face, because she gives me a quizzical look.

I'm feeling a combination of shock, sadness, admiration and shame. Shame, perhaps, because I can't in any way relate to what she is saying.

But war is not the only thing she's facing. Tatiana is preparing to return to Ukraine for cancer treatment: that's where our connection began.

It was my first day in Chisinau, and I was looking for stories, wandering through Stefan cel Mare Central Park. Linden, chestnut and oak trees towered above me as I walked down the cracked cement path.

Tatiana was sitting on a wooden bench, reading a book in the sun. I introduced myself and asked if I could join her, and we ended up talking for hours.

She asked about my life and what it was like being so far from home. While I couldn't relate to her stories about war, I said that it was hard not being there for the people that I loved.

A close family member of mine had recently been diagnosed with cancer. She paused and told me she had cancer too.

Tatiana has trusted doctors in Kyiv, so she needs to return home for treatment. I asked how she planned to do that through an active war zone.

She told me about a driver who will take her back home. His name is Yaroslav; he was injured in battle and unable to continue his military service. He still wanted to help, so he drives civilians back and forth between Moldova and Ukraine, sleeping in his van when he can.

I asked if we could meet and if I could interview him about his story. Tatiana said she would ask and immediately gave him a call. They had a conversation in Ukrainian, and after a while she started nodding her head, smiled and hung up the phone.

"It's your lucky day; he has just arrived in Chisinau," she said, "but he is returning to Ukraine tonight. Would you like to meet him?"

The drive to Kyiv takes roughly 10 hours, depending on checkpoints, border conditions, and ongoing strikes. Tatiana is excited, though. She hasn't seen her family or friends in years.

"War took my home, and cancer is trying to take my body," she says. "But I will not let that happen."