On the first day of the war, Maksym woke up to the roar of a tank passing by his yard. Twenty minutes later, Chernihiv was full of sound of sirens. After the first explosions the boy’s family hid in the basement. For several weeks, the residents of Chernihiv were surrounded by Russians. The city suffered from shelling, communication was not stable. The teenager witnessed a mine hit a neighbor’s house. Later, the boy received a concussion from the blast wave. But he remembers not only the horrors of the war, but also small moments of joy. How the family was united by celebrating his brother’s birthday. Maksym told his story while participating in the project “Rinat Akhmetov to Children. Peaceful Rest for Children of Ukraine”.