Eusebio R. Sheffield 
A Ukrainian MP has said she felt “traumatized” by the war in her home country as she mistook road repairs in Poland for damage caused by shelling.
Inna Sovsun, the deputy leader of the Holos party, largely remained in Kyiv during the conflict but traveled to Berlin this week “to plead for support for Ukraine”. Traveling through Poland, Ms Sovsun revealed that the psychological toll of the Russian invasion had led her to believe missiles had landed outside Ukraine.
“I arrived in Poland at a train station, I was waiting for my train and I looked around and saw something that made me think, ‘Oh, missiles hit here too,'” Ms Sovsun told the PA news agency.
“And then I got closer and realized, first of all, you’re in Poland, they didn’t use (missiles) here, they were just fixing the roads. It looked like some kind of mess, but (I had to) prepare my brain for three seconds. That’s when I realized I had been traumatized by this on a level that I probably hadn’t even realized.
Video unavailable
The latest Russian attack on kyiv hit a residential building and another building. Ms Sovsun, who was not in the capital at the time of the bombing, said it was “very surreal” to see Berlin residents going about their daily lives.
“People ride their bikes here, drink their coffee on the street and everything,” she said. “I can just appreciate how different all the realities of our war are for these people, so I can see how they (probably don’t want to) get involved. They live their life, it’s a very surreal feeling.
Ms Sovsun added that she would return to Ukraine after her trip to Berlin, despite her “fear”.
“Am I afraid? Yes. But it’s a feeling we’ve lived with for a very long time,” she said.
“For me, the moment I left it was almost like a betrayal. I know it sounds stupid, but since I came here to defend Ukraine, I felt like I was leaving my country. .
“This is my country… And it was a very strange feeling, like why should I leave? I absolutely want to go back.”
For more stories of where you live, visit In your region.
