"I was lucky. I'm still alive"

Mother Olha:

We couldn't have influenced what had happened. I really want this to stop. Yet, I kept hearing all these bursts, explosions, etc. We even moved to another city, but I can't get rid of the feeling that firing may start any minute now. They can be heard sometimes very well. And everyone who has experienced something like this, will never forget it.

On 24 January 2015, I was returning home from the night shift. My husband and children were at home. He called and said that there was no light and water at home. My son went down to meet me. And I said, "Go get some water. I'll wait for you at the entrance." After I heard such strong explosions, I ran closer to him, shouting, "Run to me!"

When he was already close, we turned around and ran to the entrance. At that moment, we didn't really understand what was happening at all. We heard a big explosion. I saw the bumper of a parked car fly off high. And fragments fell from the windows.

We just wanted to hide somewhere. It all happened literally within a few seconds. All very quickly and unexpectedly.

Son Oleksii:

It was very scary. Everything around us was so grey. There was a lot of smoke. I was afraid. I just feared it would be worse. Luckily,  surgeries weren't necessary. I was very scared for my mother. That is, she was worried about me. She was so stressed. I wasn't that worried about myself, but it was still scary. Praise be to God that I was alive. I mean, I was lucky the car was there.

Olha:

I turned around immediately and wondered if my son was alive. I asked, "Is everything okay? Let's go slowly. We need to go home." And as we were getting up, he said, "Mum, I can't walk."

He was also shocked, too. He did not even realise what had happened. We walked up to the eighth floor. I was going up to the eighth floor. My husband came out to meet him, picked him up. When we got home, I saw that my jeans were covered in blood. We took them off. I tried to bandaged the had. I bandaged his wounds, and we packed some things immediately and went to the hospital.

Everyone was rushing somewhere. The air was filled with smoke and gunpowder. There was a smell of blood, smoke, burnt area, and soot in the air. Glass was everywhere. It was terrible. Both roofs and houses were on fire in the private sector.

Oleksii:

I was very scared when I came home. I was very scared when I saw a lot of blood pouring from my legs and hands. I had blood on the bridge of my nose. I will remember that day for the rest of my life.

Olha:

After the injury, we were immediately hospitalized, and he spent a week in children's surgery department of hospital No. 3. I was lucky — all my wounds healed. There were small scars, and the fragments… They said that they would get smaller but remain for the rest of the life.

It left an imprint anyway. At first, he was afraid to go out at all, to walk down the street by myself. There was a road nearby the hospital. Cars passed through speed bumps. Every time a car passed by, it jumped on the speed bumps. And even that scared him.

Without doubt, the first week was very difficult. We didn't live in our apartment for six months, and it had effects. We explained to him what happened, but we hope that it will not happen again. Then we explained that our mistake was that we ran away. If only we had known that we had to fall to the ground during the shelling. Then, perhaps, this would not have happened. Well, you know as the phrase goes "If you lose don't lose the lesson".

Oleksii:

When I was discharged, I was afraid to go home. I was afraid it would start again. Well, I got over it quite fast. I am no longer afraid to walk on the street by myself. I used to rustle all the time. Every booming made me scared. Even when I was walking with adults, I was afraid.

I wish it would all go away completely. I just wish peace would come.