I have four siblings. After my father's death, my mother raised us all by herself, working hard to provide for a comfortable existence. Being the eldest daughter in the family, I had to help my mother and look after my younger brothers and sister.

Despite the post-war difficulties we had to deal with, I managed to finish technical school with a degree in Accounting. Then I started working at Krasnohorivka Refractory Plant as a checker inspector, then as a production master and eventually as an financial controller in the main office of the plant.

I got married in 1959. My husband worked as a physical education teacher. Upon retirement, he worked as a janitor at the city stadium, and I worked as a janitor at Zolotaya Rybka Kindergarten.

My husband died in 2005. I lived alone before the war. My children — son and daughter — lived separately. They have their own families. In 2013, I had a complex facial surgery.

"My daughter's house has become uninhabitable"

When the fighting started, we all found ourselves on a knife edge. Daughter lived in a house that is located at the entrance to the city, so all the residents of the house had to leave it because of the shelling. The house is not suitable for living. Daughter and her husband had to move in with me.

Gas supply was cut off in the city; electricity was intermittent; when water pipes burst, we had to get by with no water. I had to arrange my life under current conditions. We purchased a gas cylinder to cook food or to warm up tea, at least. We stock up on firewood and coal for the winter.

"We heat the house with a cast-iron stove"

Before the war, when we had gas, I cooked food on a gas stove. A gas-fired water heater gave hot water and heating in the apartment through a gas boiler. We heat the house with a cast-iron stove.

Before the war, we could pay with our pension payments for the utilities, medicines, food, clothes, shoes, various household items. Taking into account the purchase of firewood, coal, refuelling a gas cylinder and paying for utilities is very difficult these days.

Working together makes it easier for us to cope with everyday problems. Thus, my daughter has to buy food, medicines, and deal with all other necessary things. Son-in-law helps around the house, chops wood to stoke the cast-iron stove. My daughter is disabled since childhood, but together we manage to cope with difficulties.

"It's nice that they don't forget about us"

In 2015, I was registered to receive humanitarian aid from Rinat Akhmetov as an old-age pensioner. There are food products in the food packages, and they are very useful. After all, the cost of cereals, sunflower oil, and sugar is considerable in stores and markets.

I would like to express my gratitude for the fact that we, the Krasnohorivka residents, are receiving humanitarian assistance from Rinat Akhmetov in such a difficult time. It is so precious that we are not forgotten.