WEBVTT - Made with VTT Creator 00:05.464 --> 00:20.074 position:50% align:middle At the moment it all happened, I was in the bedroom, probably asleep even. I heard a frantic, insanely powerful explosion and my wife shouting, "Fire! Take the children away!" 00:20.074 --> 00:33.416 position:50% align:middle I burst into the hallway; everything was covered in glass. I immediately realised that the thing we were most afraid of had happened because it is clear that we live in such a place, 00:33.416 --> 00:46.442 position:50% align:middle on such a floor, that theoretically, it could have happened. But everyone thought it wouldn't happen. First, I began to carry the children. And the wife shouted, "Fire! Where is the fire extinguisher?!" 00:46.442 --> 00:59.925 position:50% align:middle Luckily, we had fire extinguishers at home, and she quickly figured it out. She quickly figured out how to use it because you don't use a fire extinguisher daily, and she managed to extinguish the fire. 00:59.925 --> 01:13.073 position:50% align:middle Something incomprehensible leaked out of this enemy drone, a kind of liquid that burns and stinks very badly with high temperature and soot. The sofa instantly burst into flames. 01:13.073 --> 01:29.114 position:50% align:middle And since there is a lot of synthetic in the apartment – a sofa, a carpet, a wooden floor - it would light up like a match. It is good that she managed to extinguish this fire in the bud to bring down this flame on the sofa; 01:29.114 --> 01:43.527 position:50% align:middle she did not allow the fire to spread to a larger area. If there were still a fire, firstly, there would be much more destruction. And secondly, I think there could be victims. It burned for a relatively short time, 01:43.527 --> 01:57.117 position:50% align:middle but when it was over, it was terribly cold here because there were no windows. But I opened the windows of the whole flat – what was left of them to make draft because it was impossible to breathe. 01:57.117 --> 02:13.051 position:50% align:middle The soot was so thick that I just coughed. Therefore, there were several factors that saved us, and one of them was, of course, a fire extinguisher. We tried to make the children feel it as little as possible, 02:13.051 --> 02:25.876 position:50% align:middle but, of course, they heard it. Even though they were sleepy, we quickly carried them out, brought them to Grandma's, and they spent the whole night there. However, they realised that something bad had happened. 02:25.876 --> 02:42.767 position:50% align:middle The next day, we immediately sent the eldest son to a football camp in the Carpathians, but we did not bring the youngest one here for several days. She did not see the worst when everything here was strewn, 02:42.767 --> 02:56.630 position:50% align:middle broken, a bunch of garbage. When she walked in here a few days later, she was a little shocked. And most of all, she was upset that there was no Christmas tree. There was a big Christmas tree here; 02:56.630 --> 03:07.603 position:50% align:middle she loved it very much; she decorated it with her mother and was really waiting for this Christmas tree. This Christmas tree failed to remain in place until the New Year. [Children feel] kind of normal, 03:07.603 --> 03:23.957 position:50% align:middle but we're still visiting a psychologist. There are no visible, thank God, physical violations. We took them to the doctor, who checked the auditory organs to see whether they were damaged. 03:23.957 --> 03:47.430 position:50% align:middle Thank God, physiologically, everything is safe, but the child's psyche, of course, is not so strong, and we have to correct it a little so that there are no more terrible consequences. Therefore, 03:47.430 --> 03:58.686 position:50% align:middle We cannot calculate the amount of damage now because we do not yet fully understand the scale of everything that happened. We only see what is on the surface. And when it comes to dismantling, 03:58.686 --> 04:14.747 position:50% align:middle I think we will see many more unpleasant surprises. Windows are what's obvious; there are none of them. Blew out not only the windows behind me, the blast wave blew out the windows in three rooms, 04:14.747 --> 04:30.857 position:50% align:middle and they need to be replaced. We are waiting for them now; they will probably be replaced soon. Outside our windows, there is the terrace, where flew in all the rags, trash, and garbage from the upper floors; 04:30.857 --> 04:43.366 position:50% align:middle this terrace saved the lower floors. Everything gathered here, and very little got down. The terrace is completely shattered. How to repair it, I don't know yet. In order to repair it, 04:43.366 --> 04:59.603 position:50% align:middle we need to dismantle everything, and now there is a huge minus outside the window. No one will do this until the weather is normal. Therefore, I think it is really possible to start work in about six months, 04:59.603 --> 05:17.870 position:50% align:middle not earlier than the roof overlap will be restored, because the overlap suffered a lot there. It is temporarily mothballed so that water does not flow. And only after the construction of the house is restored will it be possible to do something in our apartment. 05:17.870 --> 05:33.937 position:50% align:middle So now, unfortunately, it's impossible to live here, because it's quite cool. On February 24, it was Thursday, a usual working day. As always, I went to work at about five in the morning; I had airs. I even stopped by a fast food restaurant and bought a sandwich. 05:33.937 --> 05:51.518 position:50% align:middle As it turned out, it was one of the last sandwiches you could take; then, there was a long break. When I was driving up to work, I saw in our internal chat... Colleagues living on the left bank began writing about the explosions, and the war began. 05:51.518 --> 06:06.594 position:50% align:middle It was strange for me. What war? For a few minutes, I came to my senses. And then, when I realised that it all started, I called my wife, who, of course, was asleep, and began to say to her, "Prepare the children; 06:06.594 --> 06:19.852 position:50% align:middle go down to the parking because something has begun." We did not yet understand the full scale. I came to work. I was honestly preparing my sports news release by probably seven o'clock. 06:19.852 --> 06:35.669 position:50% align:middle But at 7 o'clock it was already clear that sports in this country would have to be forgotten for quite a long time, there were other questions. And from that moment, I switched to work in the information service, 06:35.669 --> 06:50.375 position:50% align:middle which then transformed into the United News Telemarathon. The first day was like in a fog, but starting from the second day, from Friday, we already began to adapt to the situation. Perhaps you remember, if you were in Kyiv, 06:50.375 --> 07:06.237 position:50% align:middle we didn't go anywhere. We spent almost 50 days in the bomb shelter with the children in the car. It was impossible to move around Kyiv, so I walked to work because I understood that many people had left. Many people were not in Kyiv, 07:06.237 --> 07:22.686 position:50% align:middle but we needed to work. I couldn't take the car because the children were sleeping in the car; it was just like a tent. There, the children could sleep and live while I was at work. On the 26th, outside our window, 07:22.686 --> 07:39.007 position:50% align:middle literally 400 meters from here, a missile hit and destroyed a neighbouring house. It was then that we realised for sure that the war was not just close, it was at arm's length. We spent 49 days in the bomb shelter. 07:39.007 --> 08:00.626 position:50% align:middle We arranged it with my wife, we painted the walls there, insulated. We installed, with the help of friends, a toilet and a shower. It may be uncomfortable, but in acceptable conditions to be when the danger is greatest. Now, 08:00.626 --> 08:17.657 position:50% align:middle this bomb shelter is used by quite a lot of people. Maybe even hundreds. In the first days, up to 300 people were hiding there. Nowadays, conditions are changing so fast that a realistic scenario today will be completely unrealistic tomorrow. 08:17.657 --> 08:40.252 position:50% align:middle I understand that our only hope is a powerful armed force. I understand that the occupiers do not understand any words except force, so our only way out is to rely on ourselves and build a powerful army. 08:40.252 --> 08:54.223 position:50% align:middle It is possible, of course, to rely on the support of our partners, without this in any way, but we can rely only on ourselves. What gives strength? It gives me strength that I have children; 08:54.223 --> 09:02.300 position:50% align:middle I don't want them to live in orkostan. I want them to live in a free and independent country, as it was before, perhaps even better.