“As if it’s a ball flying and burning. And you don’t know where it will fall. It's very scary! "

I worked as a milker for 35 years, was hard working. Before the war, of course, we lived well. There were farms, there was work - and people worked, we lived, everything was fine. And so it happened that the war came on us. Sometime in 2014. It was, perhaps, by the fall, when the bombing began. I didn’t know, what to think, and, where to run.

First we went down to the cellar, then we saw that we can’t make it to the cellar and there are fragments near the doors. Then we gathered in this corner, such a dead corner and sat together.

The cow was injured by shells; it was a fragment... The houses were destroyed; they were trying to rebuild them on their own. 

And in the years 2017 - 2018 they were shooting on the side of the river: flying balls burned. It was like a ball flying and burning, glowing in the evening. 

And you don’t know, where it will fall. And how long will it fly? It's very scary!

Sometimes, that gas was disconnected. They hit the gas pipes.

 One day, we were in the garden, collected rainwater and wanted to water the trees. And the shelling began. We quickly run the cellar, there we made crackers in jars, and filled them with water. Every time they bombed hard – we fled into the cellar. 

And then, in 2018 - 2019, we have nowhere to hide, because it is useless, we cannot hide. If it’s your destiny, you cannot hide anywhere!

A relative [was] right at the door ... wanted to go into the house, and a mine exploded in the garden, or a shell, or a mine. He was hurt badly. He didn’t survive. There were many wounded ...

Now it’s kind of we got used a little to these shellings, we do not pay attention. After the sixth years, it’s all that we can do, and that else can the elderly do? By could they go?

It’s good that the children live here and help. With one thing, then then with another, then the products.

I did not earn a pension, only 2100 hryvnias of pension. How can I live?! Utilities [to pay], everything is very expensive. When I come to the store – old ladies are sitting, waiting for them to bring the bread, but they can’t buy anything more! That's how we live.

Thanks to Rinat Leonidovich, he gives us rations. Lots of thanks to him for that, big thank you. It helps, and it helps a lot.

And people are grateful, because not everyone does it - such help, not everyone.

We’d like for everything to be restored. We wish this distraction would stop. Oh, I would like to believe in good things.