I would like to tell you a little about our life in Donetsk. What happened here, and how we live now.

Sometimes I just wanted to close my eyes and imagine that this was  not happening to us. Imagine that life is normal again. I wish it was just a bad dream. Unfortunately, this is the reality we have to live in.

War destroyed our homes. We live in fear. Unemployment and poverty now rule here. A lot of people have become hostages of the situation, trying to survive as best they can.

I wish we were part of Ukraine as we were before. Many people want it. Even in spite of the attitude that we felt and still feel when we visit our relatives and friends. Let us take the attitude towards us at checkpoints... We have become outcasts, second-class people. We do not even have personal life positions any more.

We tried to leave when there were heavy attacks, looking for housing. As soon as they found out that we were from Donetsk, the attitude towards us changed. We could not even rent an apartment — it was too expensive, and we couldn't afford it. We had to hide with the children in shelters, basements and corridors.

Let them not say that only separatists and terrorists are left to live in Donetsk. We are normal people and know the difference. We just want peace and quiet. We want our jobs back so that we didn't have to count cookies for our children.