Since 2007, I have lived in Horlivka, in the village of Zaitseve, in Zhovanka, to be more specific.    I live with husband Oleksandr Ilyich. We are retired.

In August of 2015, two shells exploded near our house, windows shattered.    The husband got through with difficulty. He suffered a massive heart attack, stroke, and left-sided paralysis. We stayed there.

My husband is already 80 years old, and I am 79. People's support made it not so difficult for us, since they help us cope with the hardships.    We have our whole courtyard broken. Summer kitchen, three sheds, a well, and an arbor. We do not have any fence left. What remains is a cellar and a garage with a broken roof. We have 11 pits  on the estate from the shells.

In 2014, the war began - and everything went down the pan

I was born in a working class family in the village of Zaitseve. The husband was also born in the working family of Luhansk.    Having finished school, she worked for two years at the Komsomolets mine, and graduated from Dnipropetrovsk Institute of Railway Transport. I got stationed at Horlivka Station of the Donetsk Railway, then to the Artemugol Loading and Transport Department.    In 1993, I retired.

My husband graduated from the Dnipropetrovsk Mining Institute.   He taught in the department of the Horlivka Road Institute, worked at the Kochegarka Mine.    He retired in 1987.

I had several surgeries, and doctors adviced to change the climate. So we left for Izium, Kharkiv Oblast.    We lived there until 2007. Then we moved to the village of Zaitseve where my parents were buried.    It was necessary to take care of the graves, and such distance becomes more difficult to overcome.   My brothers lived in Zaitseve. However, we did not live long with my four brothers.

In 2014, the war began - and everything went down the pan. One brother died, the children of the other took him to Nizhnevartovsk, the third brother had his home smashed, so he had to go to his son in Krasnyi Lyman.    Only one brother remained there.

Since 2015, we had to face the heap of trouble.    In March, my husband had a surgery. He had a catheter placed. To change it, my husband has to be taken to Artemivsk.    We really appreciate the assistance the military provided - they took him to Artemivsk.  

I am also grateful to our neighbours, volunteers — they helped us a lot.    We would like to express our gratitude to the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation for its support and humanitarian assistance. We would like to express our gratitude to the believers who came to us and brought help, as well.    Moreover, we would like to express our gratitude to the volunteers who brought us food and things. We are forever grateful to the military doctors and nurses who responded to our request and always provided the necessary medical care. We are very grateful to the volunteers of our village and all the residents, who always supported and helped us.  

We all want one thing: peace and a restful life. And I would very much like that children, grandchildren, nephews and great-grandchildren could come to us and help us a bit. Now, here in Zaitseve, they let through only those people  who have a registered residence. We have many relatives, but they cannot come.