‘Our youngest daughter and son had hysterics’

In the morning, we all got up. As usual, at seven, we started getting our kids ready for school. Everyone had breakfast, then tea. They were just about leaving the house and the very next moment – there was this first boom. It sounded a bit further away. Then another one, this time closer. All of a sudden, we heard a loud crash. Later, we found out that our neighbour’s country house got a shell hit, it’s on the other side of the street, and one person was nearly killed.

We hid our kids in cellars and went to check what had happened. We went out of the house and saw that there was no smoke there. There were only wood boards, roof slates, and stones scattered all over the place. All people survived.

Our youngest daughter threw a fit of hysterics, with all the screams and squeals. The youngest son also went into hysterics, we couldn’t get him to stop.

Our elder kids, a daughter and a son, they were rather focused that this was a war and they had to somehow live through this, withstand it and help their juniors, support their mum.

My elder sister lives here, in Myronivskyi. Why can’t I try living here too? It’s calm and quiet. There are occasionally bombing attacks. But that’s okay, we’ve been living here for more than a year now. We’ve become displaced persons, bought a small house.

In this community, we feel a lack of people. My kids want to attend dance classes and football practices. I can’t really afford hiring a car or taking a taxi every time they want to go somewhere. It would cost 150–200 hryvnias both ways.

I told them, ‘I can’t take you for drives back and forth’. When we can, when the weather is nice, we walk or ride bicycles to Myronivka. There, we might just have a good time and walk around the park. They have fun with their friends, some play football, or volleyball, or basketball, some go to the swimming pool. Now, in winter, they stay at home. My elder daughter wanted to go to the music school, but it’s too far away.

The major part of my life is my children. They trust their mum, they understand and support their mum. As for everything else, things will work themselves out somehow, with time.