"The driver of the minibus said: "As many people will get in, so many I will take out"

We lived in the city of Yenakiieve. I met my husband there in 2005. We started living together there.

In 2014, I went to visit my parents. We go there every year. My father lives in his house with my mother. So we go there to help him in the garden. Well, I make some canned food for the winter. They have their own vegetables. It's expensive to buy, so I come and help them with that.

When they started bombing in Yenakiieve — and we live on the outskirts — we could hear it very clearly. My husband was at work. I called him and said that I was scared at home with the kids.

We sent the oldest daughter to the village on holiday. And so he told me to take two children and go to my father's. And so I went to my father's. He lived in Vidrodzhennia, near Artemivsk.

When it was time to go home, the Headmaster called me, "Liuba, the school assembly takes place on 6 October, because some shells hit the school. They damaged the steps badly, as well as other things. We have to repair a lot of things." She said that the school assembly will only be held by 6 October. I told her it was fine, and I would stay at the father's. Well, we stayed there for a while.

Then dad packed up some stuff and left. However, we were not allowed to go through the checkpoint. We came back here. Dad got me this studio. So I moved to this studio, which was 18 square meters. We had one bathroom for five apartments. Can you imagine? So we lived there.

We celebrated the New Year there. So we lived here since October. I sent my kids to school here. So we stayed here from October to January.

The children were very afraid. They had to witness this horror, with the bombing and the shelling. We often had to stay in the basement or a bomb shelter. So they often caught a cold.

One day my sister called me and said, "Get out of there." She worked and lived in Artemivsk. I said, "I can't, I don't have any money." She said, "I will send you some money. Come to me in Artemivsk, and I will give you some."

So I got on a minibus which was overcrowded. People were leaving this horrible place. Well, when people started running with bags and children. The driver of the minibus said: "As many people will get in, so many I will take out".

He drove through Artemivsk. Luckily, people who lived in Artemivsk, got out on the way, and it got easier. We quickly ran out with my husband, took money from my sister – we ran to the place where she worked – and then we went to Kharkiv. We came to Sloviansk. And then we got on a train to Kharkiv. It was less expensive.

And suddenly my cousin was riding on a train with 7 hryvnias. I say, "Where are you going?" He says, "I don't know, get out of here." I invited him to come with us. He agreed. And he lived with us for a year and seven months.

I was drawn here. I was born here. I grew up here. I just wanted to get my own housing, so that I would not live in rented houses, with strangers all my life. I just wanted my own home. So we came here, to Svitlohirsk in search of a better life.

First, the husband came with the middle daughter to see how things were here. Then he called me and said, "Honey, it seems to be Ok. Come on, pack up." I went there right away.

I went to the City Executive Committee to ask for an apartment. And so they gave it to me. I just told them that we couldn't live like this anymore. They were aware of the conditions we lived in. So they offered us this apartment. I agreed without a hint of a doubt.

They gave us the keys from the apartment straight away. Well, when we came in, we saw that there was no toilet, the bathroom had no doors. There was no tap. We bought it all ourselves. My husband had some temporary work for three months. We did some repairs. We managed to buy this only on the money he got from that job.

On 1 February, I was given a permit for the apartment. However, we moved in only on 17 February. We didn't have the money the husband was about to receive. We bought a tap, some curtain-rods, linoleum, which was enough just for the hall. We haven't bought it for the bedroom yet.

I just want the war to end. I would really like to do some repairs in the apartment in the spring. It really needs some furnishing, too. My daughter will go to university next year.

I would like her to stay here, with us. I don't know, I'm going to have to… I don't want them to leave me even though I understand they will grow up and start their own families. And my husband and I will be left alone. We will be a family no matter what. We will stand for each other no matter what.