She packed her whole life into one suitcase and went to nowhere. This is not how 73-year-old Tetiana from Chernihiv imagined her old age, but she had no more strength to be staying in the basement and waiting for bombing.

I never thought there would be war again, never. I never thought that russia would attack Ukraine, never. Never at all. We have a russian-speaking population.

We have lived peacefully and suddenly the war breaks out. This is absolutely...

So many houses have been bombed, and people died. We did not have tap water at home. Our neighbour went to the garages to get some water there. At that time, they started shelling. Poor man, he can hardly walk. He came to get some water when it happened. Holy Christ! He came back without any water. That is really... We were staying in the basement. Oh, Lord! Poor us. Airplanes… We heard the sound when they flew and when those bombs flew by too.

We did not know where… Well, it was not far from us. Probably, some four [bus] stops away from us. We have ZAZ plant, a plant manufacturing auto parts. They flew there, and a hostel was destroyed there. Many people died. And when we were on our way here, there was a very intense bombing too. There was a moment when we stood in a queue to leave. It was an absolute horror. Those bombs were landing across the road, but that was further from us. Well, we thought that it might just fall on us, and we would be covered with fragments, and all of us would be riddled with fragments, like all the way through.

And once I was standing in a queue to buy some sausages. That was in the first days. I joined the queue and stood there for two and a half hours. At that time, two planes were flying. My God! People crouched, people made the sign of the cross.

They hoped that those planes would just fly by. Well, they flew further and then dropped their bombs. We had a dacha (an out-of-town cottage) and it was all smashed all the way through. We have plant no. 71 nearby and the plant was bombed too. All our windows were blown out. Our house is still there, but without windows. Well, it is not over yet, and who will stop him? Maybe the international community... Well, why cannot he be stopped? Why on Earth does he [kill] civilians like that? I don’t understand. Just a monster. We are peaceful people. We lived our way and here it came on us. He started bombing us. How can they do it to civilians? I cannot imagine; I just cannot wrap my mind around it. I watch videos about the war and memories come to my mind. They show a man walking and carrying a portrait of his father or someone else in his hands, I don’t know. Man, use your brains!

Why are you bombing us, why?

We were staying in our basement. We ate some food there all together. There were some women with small children in their arms in the neighbouring basement. One year and two months old baby. We have a multi-dwelling house for small families near our place. I saw some kids running around there. They were about three years old. This is absolutely… Well, these bombing attacks, you know. There was no power supply, and we were running up and down those stairs... I still have a flashlight in my bag. A strong fear still grips me and then I am in blank dismay. We ran with that flashlight, and that was absolutely [creepy].