I live alone, my whole peaceful life exists only  in the photos. Our life is destroyed, it is not there. No family, no son-in-law. He was killed by shrapnel on the day of that terrible attack on January 31, 2015. Children and grandchildren left for Belarus.

Everything changed in an instant. Then my house came under fire. We heard a noise, a crash, a shock wave, and glass flew into the kitchen. I clutched my head and thought it was the end of the world.

A 122-caliber shell went through the wall and floor. The shards scattered dozens of meters. I was miraculously alive.

I go to bed – I was scared. I get up in the morning and say, "Thank God I'm alive." We had a thousand people in Kurdiumivka before the war, but now there are not even half of them left. There is no work, transport goes to the nearest city only twice a week.