First conversation in Russian

Hello, much like another user did, I would really like to share with you guys something that really made my day (and week), and this was also possible because of you!

I started being interested in learning this language in January 2023 (met an Ukrainian girl that was born and raised in my country, but I wanted to know her language too, so I tried to learn Ukrainian. Sadly, there's not many resources to learn, so I switched to Russian later). After we broke up I stopped learning, but in June 2023 I suddenly started loving the language again, so, after reading someone's comment here, (thank you a lot, whoever you are, I don't remember your username!) I downloaded Anki, and started the deck "5000 most common words in Russian".

After a month I began to be able to express myself in very simple ways (I am studying about 30m a day, very easy and low effort, can't really do anything more than 30m because I also happen to be a med student). I then desperately wanted to practice. Sadly, even though my town is full of Ukrainian first and second generation emigrants, they're all mostly from the Western areas, and always refuse to speak Russian, especially nowadays, even with me, who is clearly outside of the political scenario. But yesterday, something great happened!

A girl I know, 20, who's been here for 2y (so speaks Italian correctly and fluently) brought over her friend from Ukraine, who only knows Ukrainian and Russian. It was an incredible experience because it was the first time I actually spoke with someone, she understood, replied, and we had satisfying conversations; of course the language barrier was still present (I don't think I'm more than B1 at this point) but I loved it!

So, I want to thank all the native speakers here who offer their help, and also I want to incourage my fellow learners... come on! It's worth it :) !