I was born in the village of Zaitseve, Mykytivskyi District.    I had lived there until the age of 15 with her mother, grandmother and younger brother, who is now 11 years old.    I studied in the same village to Grade 9 in School No.15 .    It was destroyed from the outbreak of hostilities - it was on  the fore line.

We went to school to the bitter. We were often evacuated under fire. When they didn’t have time, all the children sat in the basement, beneath the school. And so we studied there until only ruins remained.

My mother was pregnant at that time. When mum was in labour, the maternity hospital was shelled. Everyone who had newborn babies was sitting in the basement.

Due to frequent shelling, my grandmother had two strokes. She and my brother had to be sent to my aunt, to the town of Izium.

After the house was broken in Zaitseve, I moved to my grandparents in a small village, which is located on the line of contact line — Pisky-2. At that time, Mom and my newborn brother and stepfather remained in Horlivka.

There is no school or a kindergarten, or a shop in the village. Mostly old people remained.  Only one guy who was the same age as I stayed. We have not had electricity for a year and there are constant water supply problems. Since 2015, we spend almost every day in the basements, even at night. We do not have our own basement, so we go to the basement to the neighbours who have moved. There we have beds and a stove, which grandfather built from an old barrel. We would sometimes sit in the basement for seven hours. They did not always have time to run across and lay on the road, fragments flew in all directions.

In 2015, a shell fell nearby. The walls and the fence were riddled, glass were shattered.

When we sleep in the house, we do not wear pajamas in order to make it quickly to the basement.

Documents and the most necessary things are packed in bags by the front door. There is a crowbar and a shovel in the basement near the entrance to be able to get out in the event of caving.

Due to frequent shelling and the buildup at the checkpoints, I had to leave Horlivka Professional   Lyceum of Housekeeping and Services Providing No. 25. I took the hairdresser course and studied for two years. Though, I didn’t manage to finish my studies, it was very difficult to get to study in Horlivka.

It is very difficult to live under constant shelling, sitting for 6-7 hours in the basement. We plant gardens and and gather harvest  to the sounds of bullets. We live almost like cavemen, deprived of everything. No watering, no TV, no radio, no nothing.

Most importantly, people living in the village do not lose heart and wait for the end of the war...