In the opening video for the 11th New York Game Awards, one of the featured game industry people involved was Elena Lobova from Kiev. Elena is the co-founder of GDBay, and she has helped to bring game devs far and wide together online and in person. We wish Elena – and everyone in Ukraine – the safety, strength and solace during this very difficult time of invasion.

By Elena Lobova

I’m getting so many support messages today, I’m overwhelmed.

Thank you so much for sending good thoughts to us 🙏

I’m in Kyiv, I wanted to leave for some time but I didn’t make it on time. My flight was scheduled for the early morning of Feb 25. Of course, it’s cancelled now.

I woke up at 5 AM today, without any particular reason, just had a bad dream… I went to the kitchen to get a glass of water. The kitchen window was open. Around 5:05 AM, I’ve heard several explosions that immediately brought me back to 2014 in Lugansk. I knew what it was.

There were several explosions after that, still shooting time to time. I’m in a place that seemed like the safest option out of what I had available, together with my close people.

We keep working, doing our best to stay safe and hope for the best.