‘It was a terrible shelling. Our nine-storey building was shaking and rocking’

Our son has Down syndrome. This is a genetic disease. This is when cells do not divide as usual, and an extra chromosome entails this disease. The state pays us a pension, a care allowance for him. My grandmother is a former teacher. She is a disabled person (in the first group of disability). She gets extra 50 hryvnias for her disability. When I submitted all the documents for her to get this disability status, I remember they told me that only some 50 hryvnias would be added. Later they asked me why I was doing this, what's the point?

It is impossible to get accustomed to the war. I still think about those people who stay in these places and do not leave, who cannot leave. And my aunt has remained there to this day. She is an old woman, my mother's elder sister. I would very much like her to leave.

The last straw was on 3 October 2015. There was a heavy shelling. We were on the eighth floor in my mother's apartment and we were lying on the floor. I put a blanket on the floor. Vladik, myself, my mom, our neighbours and small kids. It was a terrible shelling. Our nine-storey building was shaking and rocking. All the time I was afraid that the wall would be broken through. How could I take my mother downstairs from the eighth floor? By the elevator, to get stuck inside it? This was scary. And Vlad was in my arms. I had to keep track of one thing and another at the same time.

Our daughter Masha went for a walk at that time. I did not know how she was, for a long time. Our nine-storey building was shaking for several hours. The store opposite to our house was hit by shellfire. The centre of Popasna came under heavy shelling.

And then, when it quieted down, more or less, guys from police were going upstairs and I asked them what we should do. We were told: get down closer to the basement. I said that I could not take both of them down. How? So, they put my mother on a blanket and carried her to the basement. And I took Vladik down there. So, we stayed there until nine in the evening.

Masha was nowhere to be seen. They searched for Masha over the radio. They were looking for her among the dead and among those who was alive. At nine o'clock she came back. She was afraid to return, she was afraid of another shelling.

We spent the night in the basement under the nine-storey building. At that time, the weather was getting cold. And the next morning I no longer hesitated. I understood that if it continued, I would not be able to protect them in any way.

I called a taxi and took three small bags with me, my mother's diapers, a bag with medicines, her stroller and us. I had a thousand [hryvnias]. And I paid almost 800 hryvnias for a taxi. When near the entrance to our building, I prayed, and we drove off.

I told the taxi driver that we were going to Svatove, because Vladik was supposed to have a re-examination for an adult group of disability once he turns 18 years old. I didn’t have relatives here. The nearest place where re-examination could be made was Svatove.

It was a nice and sunny morning. I prayed all the way so that I would get there safely, so that it [the shelling] would not start again. We took the cat with us and gave the dog to other people asking them to look after it.

We left for Svatove. I came to my colleagues there at the railway station. I am a railway worker myself. I have 20 years of work experience at the railway. I came to see my colleagues at the railway station. I left my mother there. I fed her and changed her diaper and left her there for some time. Our kids and I went to look for a place where we could stay for a night. And we were shown where the camp for IDPs was.

I submitted all the documents right away. All my documents are in good order. If there are any changes, I inform them [public authorities] immediately. For example, Masha has got her passport. And everyone knows me very well here and even considers me too pushy.

Sometimes it seems to me that I am a disaster number two after the hostilities for the town of Svatove. As the saying goes: if you need a helping hand, you will find one at the end of your arm. The one who is more persistent, pushy, I do not want to say more impudent, this is not our case… I need to take care of my family members, that is why I show this persistence. I try to do everything I can do. To learn certain laws, to find out about various types of help.

My child, a disabled kid, took those explosions of military warehouses in Svatove very hard. I did not know where to hide him. When I think about mothers who have babies at breast, how they feel, I get very scared. I believe that all people should have received compensations for moral damages. All the inhabitants who were in Svatove at that moment, during that “last judgment” on that terrible night. Everyone should have received compensation for moral damage. The building was shaking for six hours in a row! After almost a year, we have somewhat forgotten what it all feels like.

When there are people near you whom you cannot help, this is very scary. I didn’t even worry about myself so much at that moment. I didn’t know where to take my child, where to hide him and where the bearing walls were. I called ‘101’ line, I called SOS, I called the Emergency Service. When I called ‘101’ telephone line, I reached Luhansk. A female voice said: ‘Don't worry, the reason is a fire at the [military ammunition] warehouses. Count two walls from the sound and take a cover behind them. It won’t calm down until they burn out. But don’t be worried.’ I was running all over the apartment looking for those two walls and how to cover the child with my body.

I still hope to come back home, to return to Popasna.