We have a basement where we hide from the bombing. The floors are cracked, but this is still the most reliable place that has saved us more than once. We have everything in case of shooting: boards, some blankets, water. We remember how people died and houses collapsed right in front of our eyes. We re constantly attacked, and it was terrifying.

My children live ten kilometers from here, in an uncontrolled territory. This means that they need to do a detour to get to me, through checkpoints. That is, it takes a day on the road. My wife Lidiya also had a son, but at the age of 28, an illness took him away from us.

I am a former miner. The job was hell, but I never complained about my health. The war took my health. I have heart problems, and my mental health is disturbed. As soon as I start talking about the war, I start crying. Lidiya was diagnosed with diabetes. If she's under nervous stress, her arms and legs are trembling. She may lose consciousness, and I can do nothing about it.

This war took 10-15 years of our lives. It seems that we all have grown old from what we experienced. We don't recognize people we know, and they don't recognise us. That's how we changed.

 We nicskimp to save money, because we have to buy medications on our pension payments. It's hard to get enough money to heat the house, because we need a lot coal during the winter. We wanted to celebrate our 10th anniversary, but our friends and family could not make it because of the shelling.