“NOW I UNDERSTAND”: LAURA LOOMER DESCRIBES WAKING TO UKRAINE’S AIR RAID SIRENS
After interviewing President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and remaining in Ukraine, American political commentator Laura Loomer says she experienced something millions of Ukrainians have lived with for years.
She was awakened by an air raid siren.
“I was just woken up by an air raid siren in Ukraine. I felt a sense of panic when I woke up from a nap to the sirens. My heart was pounding, and I had to catch my breath because the loud sound that woke me up was so scary.”
Loomer said the experience gave her a new appreciation for the psychological burden Ukrainians endure every day.
“I don’t know how people in Ukraine have been able to endure being woken up by air raid sirens every night for almost five years… Hearing this every day is hardly good for the nervous system.”
Her comments came just days after she visited Bucha, where hundreds of civilians were killed during Russia’s occupation in 2022. She described seeing the mass grave near St. Andrew’s Church, where victims were buried after Russian forces withdrew.
The experience became even more personal when Russia launched another ballistic missile attack on the Bucha area, killing civilians once again.
Loomer wrote:
“This is terrorism.”
She also called on the U.S. Congress to pass additional sanctions against Russia.
For Ukrainians, however, this is not a single frightening night.
It is the reality of life after years of war.
Children have learned to recognize the sound of incoming missiles before they learn multiplication tables. Parents wake in the middle of the night not because of an alarm clock, but because they have seconds to decide whether to run for shelter. Families sleep with emergency bags by the door, never knowing if the next siren will end with another neighborhood in ruins.
For visitors, the first air raid siren can be terrifying.
For Ukrainians, it has become part of everyday life—a reality no society should ever have to accept.
Sometimes it takes experiencing just one night under the threat of missiles to understand what millions of Ukrainians have endured for years. 🇺🇦