"Why not continue Zoom." Kyiv designer accidentally filmed a Russian drone strike during an online class
On Monday evening, a Russian strike drone exploded near a 25-story residential building in Kyiv. At that moment, designer Elizaveta Braun was conducting an online class and accidentally captured the explosion on video. Her reaction to the strike went viral on social media.
Radio Svaboda spoke with Elizaveta Braun about what happened during those moments and why she initially didn't even realize how dangerous the situation was.
"I'm alive, everything's fine. Why not continue Zoom?"
During the class, Lizaveta was at her usual workspace in her apartment. The online meeting had just begun.
Participants were joining the call when an air raid alert was announced in Kyiv. The explosion coincided with the air raid alert, and there was practically no time to realize the danger.
"About four minutes after the call started, the alert began. And at that very moment, I saw something flying. I looked sideways and didn't even understand which direction it was moving, because it seemed to me that it was still very far away. But literally two seconds later, the strike occurred – very close," Lizaveta recounts.
In the video, which went viral on social media, Lizaveta emotionally reacts to what happened, yet tries to continue the conversation with the participants of the online class. People who were on the call with her suggested ending the call and rescheduling the meeting.
Lizaveta herself perceived the situation differently at that moment.
"When the strike occurred, I interrupted the person and, emotionally, tried to say something. They tried to stop me: 'Okay, Liza, let's continue later, let's reschedule Zoom.' But to me, at that moment, it all seemed as if nothing had happened. Well, I'm alive, everything's fine. Why not continue Zoom?" she says.
According to Lizaveta, from an outsider's perspective, her reaction might have appeared as if she remained calm and was even amused. However, she herself didn't fully realize what was happening at that moment. Her state could have been influenced by adrenaline and shock after the explosion.
"I very emotionally tried to show that everything was perfectly fine with me and that we could continue. But there was already smoke in the apartment. Perhaps because of this, I also didn't fully comprehend everything yet," the designer recounts.
The online class lasted only about eight minutes. After the explosion, Lizaveta didn't immediately end the call: it seemed to her that if she herself wasn't hurt, then they could return to work.
She went to the bathroom and decided that the meeting should still be postponed. Approximately four to five minutes after the call ended, Lizaveta informed the participants that the class would take place on another day.
"To me, it seemed like everything was fine: I survived, I'm standing in the bathroom, the alert was already over. I just thought we could continue Zoom. Although people saw that something was wrong with me," she says.
Now Lizaveta understands that to viewers of the video, her reaction might have appeared completely different from how she herself felt at that moment.
"When you go through such events, and then start to realize the situation you found yourself in, it's quite frightening," she admits.
Despite the explosion near her house, Lizaveta was unharmed. She says she was very lucky: the windows in the apartment remained intact.
"I'm sitting in the same spot. Everything is perfectly fine here. I was very lucky that the windows weren't blown out. I'm in a perfectly good mood and everything is alright with me," she said after the incident.
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