An ordinary day, we went out to go to school. We just reached the turn of the road and came under fire.

They began to shellfire from above. We reached the store and waited it out inside the store. The shelling ended and we went to school. It was at about nine o’clock. Usually we go to school for eight o’clock, and when there is shelling, we go for nine o’clock. Now sometimes there is shelling and sometime there is not. We mostly go under shelling.

Sometimes it happens that we have to go to school, but the shelling starts. Therefore, we call and say that we will come a little later. In the summer, a shell hit the school and the roof was damaged.

There used to be a garden near the school and you could have a walk there. And now, to have a walk, you have to go to Zolote or walk a long way, but now we have snow, piles of snow, you don’t really take the children there, so they stay at home, doing home schooling. I buy them some developing books. We try to study at home.

When shelling starts, we can hear it through the window. They say: ‘Oh, mom, boogeymen are shelling.’ For them these are boogeymen. They are scared. Once bullets were flying by on our street and the children were very frightened. They even screamed. ‘Boogeymen are shooting.’ We tell them: ‘Everything is fine, it will not reach us.’ We calm them down saying that nothing will reach us, that everything will be fine with us, that everything will be okay. Well, they calm down more or less.

Once the following happened: it hit the fence between our neighbour’s yard and us. The children were sleeping at that time, so they didn’t really understand what happened. And when it flew to us, we were not here. Therefore, they don’t really know what it is when it lands and hits nearby. We have shelling instead of fireworks here.

There is a problem with pharmacies here. You have to go to Gorsk in such a situation. Now I have two children sick, runny nose and coughing. Sometimes buses don’t come. It is very difficult. Doctors come to us, but they give us some pills against high temperature, some vitamins, but there is nothing against coughing and against a runny nose.

We would like to have some hobby clubs or classes for children, drawing classes, for example, and some sports. So that they could work out or be busy for at least an hour or two to get their minds off it. And here, there are no hobby groups or extra classes even at school.

At least to be able to go out somewhere, in parks, to a circus, so that you could relax, take you mind off things. This is all inaccessible. The nearest where you can do this is Lisichansk, Severodonetsk. And if you want to move there, you have to rent an apartment, look for a job there. So far, I am on maternity leave, but I’ll think it over. Maybe we’ll move to Lisichansk in order to take the children to civilization, and maybe then I will get some job.

It is very scary for the children. There is a shelling every day. You don’t know what will happen in an hour, in a minute. Maybe the shelling will start right now, so I am afraid for the children. I want to leave the place.