No one could ever imagine that all life would turn upside down and the earth would disappear from under their feet. An apartment in Donetsk, a well-established life, friends, connections, children's favourite school, kindergarten, music school, work at the university – all this remained in peaceful times.

My whole family went to the dacha in the spring of 2014, leaving everything behind, in summer clothes and without documents. And no one then assumed that it would not be possible to return home.

Now, after years comes the understanding of how it was necessary to risk the lives of their children and their own, while in Mykolaivka.

"We thought that everything would end soon"

At first, I thought that everything would end soon. Everything would be just as it was before. Peace would come.

The first shots, volleys, arrivals, tanks, guns, mines, explosions were the most terrible. Then we got used to it and came to understand: the place and time of a possible hit.

And then we leaned to tell the exact time of the hit. When you eat, go, clean the house after another fallen ceiling and constantly listen to when it will fly.

"We took turns sleeping at night"

At night, we took turns sleeping, so as not to miss the incoming shells. And when we did hear the sound of volleys, we still did not have time to reach the cellar.

And then we would lie there looking out the window. Child was screaming that he was scared, and I saw that the shell was getting closer and closer. A few seconds of waiting for the end. Luckily, it flew past our home. Then another volley followed. A few more seconds of life. Off-base again.

The silence descended on us. It was probably a miracle that we were still alive.

"The greatest joy was to have time to ride on roller skates"

The children did not go to school for the first year. We tried for the first few months, then we sat in a bomb shelter. Then we ran after them to school and stopped risking their lives.

The greatest joy for the children at that time was to ride roller skates near the yard in rare moments of nonshooting situation.

It was terrible to let the children out of the yard alone. The shelling could begin at any moment. Tanks could sweep by, and military vehicles could pass by us.

Since we had no job or money, we could not buy food. We were in such an unenviable position that it was simply a shame to talk about it.

The assistance the Foundation rendered was timely and allowed us to feed our children.

"We need to put children on their feet no matter what"

Now the armed hostilities has subsided a bit. We managed to adjust our lives somehow. The issue with work has not been resolved, though. We do not have a stable income. The shocks I experienced did not pass without a trace for me. I have cancer. Long expensive treatment is ahead of me. We need to be optimistic about the future.

But the end of the war, which took away the usual life, income, is not in sight. We need to set out children on their feet. And think about good things. But how can we do it if war hasn't ended yet.

Thank you and your Foundation for your support. This means that there are people for whom life is more important.