These are among the thousands and thousands of messages Ukrainians wrote to mates, 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 concern, love and assist shared within the first hours of conflict.

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

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

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

Oleksandr Starun, 27, is a supervisor at a manufacturing facility within the Czech Republic. Mr. Starun is from Belarus however his grandparents stay within the Chernihiv area of northern Ukraine. He wrote to a good friend, additionally in Europe, about their anxieties for relations in Ukraine and concerning 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 good friend who was on his strategy 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 have been together with her sister, who lived close to a navy base in Lviv. Afterward the twenty fourth, her sister moved together 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 known 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 telephone and opened the information and it was a shock,” he mentioned. “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 direction of Kherson and “in a heavy battle, my brother died close to the town of Zelenodolsk. A few minutes after I discovered that he died, my mom known as me and it was the scariest name in my life.”

”My brother was a really form particular person,” he mentioned. “Sadly, it’s true — the most effective die in conflict. Now I’ve to stay for 2 and discover a strategy to be completely satisfied, as a result of in any other case all these devoted lives will probably 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 stunned when he wrote me,” she mentioned. “He discovered concerning the conflict 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 assist which all of us badly wanted.”

She added: ”It’s important for me to recollect those that wrote me with assist on today.”

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 mates writing that the conflict had began. She determined to not evacuate together with her 14-year-old son. “I discovered these messages now and began crying remembering that day,” she mentioned.

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

Andriana Chunis, 32, is an illustrator. On Feb. 24, she was in Lviv together with her husband and 4-year-old son, Ustym. They without delay determined to evacuate to their dad and mom’ home within the countryside, as a result of they have been very scared Russia would possibly assault from Belarus.

“All day I spent on the telephone with my mates evacuating from throughout Ukraine,” she mentioned

“My good friend from Kyiv couldn’t depart, as there was no risk, so she simply put her little one into one of many vehicles driving in our path and I took her little one to my dad and mom’ 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 cook dinner for 17 folks. On a regular basis somebody was washing dishes.”

Kateryna Pesotska, 30, a lawyer, wakened in Kyiv listening to explosions and began desirous about evacuating together with her brother, Sasha. By Feb. 26, they have been already in Chernivtsi, in western Ukraine. Her father was in Mariupol, an industrial port in southeastern Ukraine that might quickly endure a brutal siege. On Feb. 26, they argued concerning the conflict. “He was telling me that Kyiv shouldn’t be being bombed. This was our final speak as a result of on March 5 he blew up on a mine on the seaside on the left shore in Mariupol.”