Oleksandr Ivashchenko | Donetsk

"When the war started, I thought it was for one or two weeks"

I want to tell you a story about how I left Donetsk. I was living on the outskirts of the city when the war started. I, like everyone else, thought it was for one or two weeks. Then they started saying on TV that the fighting was taking place in the city. Everyone was afraid.

A lot of businesses were closed – there was not enough work. Soon a shell hit a bus stop 15 minutes away from my house. My mother often went to Sloviansk. Then I moved in.

Now I rarely go to Donetsk. I want to become a computer scientist or shipbuilder and move to Odessa.

When quoting a story, a reference to the source – the Museum of Civilian Voices of the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation – is required in the following format:

The Museum of Civilian Voices founded by the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation https://civilvoicesmuseum.org/