WEBVTT - Made with VTT Creator 00:05.480 --> 00:18.557 position:50% align:middle Before the war, I lived in Kherson, in the city itself. I worked at a construction site. We had our own brigades. We did repairs, roofs, everything related to construction. 00:18.557 --> 00:33.840 position:50% align:middle When the occupiers came, they occupied our village first... No, first Kherson, then the village. The russian military completely mined the entire river bank 00:33.840 --> 00:43.652 position:50% align:middle because they were afraid of the Ukrainian offensive. They were on the right bank of the Inhulets River, and Ukrainian troops were on the left bank. 00:43.652 --> 00:54.418 position:50% align:middle They [the russians] mined when we were occupied. Cattle were being blown up: cows, calves. They went to the landing, and there were tripwires there. 00:54.418 --> 01:08.368 position:50% align:middle There were a lot of light and noise mines. For example, a hare or a dog would run and hit a tripwire. A smoke grenade goes off, and they [the russians] start shooting at it. 01:08.368 --> 01:19.553 position:50% align:middle They didn’t know who was there, what was there, they just shot at it, and that was it. Because the river is in the lowlands, and they were standing on a hill, 01:19.553 --> 01:29.073 position:50% align:middle and they could see everything. They chose a good spot so that there would be no offensive here, and they controlled the entire river bank. 01:29.073 --> 01:37.520 position:50% align:middle When the russians began to withdraw, they left in just a day. They were there in the evening, and in the morning, they were gone. 01:37.520 --> 01:51.381 position:50% align:middle And all these [tripwires] remained, because no one cleared anything. Nobody went there, nobody did anything. When they left, people began to go for their belongings, 01:51.381 --> 02:02.492 position:50% align:middle which were in the dugouts because they were taking out of the houses, taking appliances, carpets, beds, whatever you want. And everything was in their dugouts. 02:02.492 --> 02:14.232 position:50% align:middle When we were released, we came to the village. The houses were broken, there were no windows. There was my father’s house and my grandfather’s house, 02:14.232 --> 02:26.339 position:50% align:middle which was signed over to me, so it was my house now, it was like a summer house. We repaired it and glued the windows. At first, we lived in my mother’s house with my mother. 02:26.339 --> 02:49.604 position:50% align:middle My father was not there. Then I took my daughter to Kyiv because she had to study. She finished the 11th class online. It was clear that there was no internet in the village. 02:49.604 --> 03:03.232 position:50% align:middle We went to Kyiv. When I found a job for the child, I came back. We were in the village. And just then the reconstruction of the village began. 03:03.232 --> 03:16.810 position:50% align:middle We had a brigade, and I was the senior member. Hena worked there, and all the guys who stayed in the village worked with me. Then everything calmed down a bit, 03:16.810 --> 03:36.324 position:50% align:middle but we stayed in the village. The military came to visit. Our river bank was completely mined. The military made a passage to the river. We have a central entrance to the beach there. 03:36.324 --> 03:51.652 position:50% align:middle That’s what they call it - “the beach”. They said that 20 meters in one direction and 20 meters in the other - you can go there. And we went there. We went fishing on a regular basis. 03:51.652 --> 04:01.645 position:50% align:middle There was a well-trodden path, everything was fine. We were not the only ones who went there. There were, say, 15-20 of us. I mean, different people. 04:01.645 --> 04:19.261 position:50% align:middle On July 24th, I went fishing. We launched a boat. I went fishing, caught a fish. When the tide came in, I got ready and went upstairs. 04:19.261 --> 04:38.211 position:50% align:middle There is a hill, I go up and see that I am going the wrong way. As soon as I take one step, it explodes. I look and see that my leg is gone. I did not faint. 04:38.211 --> 04:53.581 position:50% align:middle I just kept standing there. Then I fell, climbed the hill on my hands, bandaged my leg. I wanted to call, but the phone broke. The screen was meshed, I couldn’t see anything. 04:53.581 --> 05:08.824 position:50% align:middle I started screaming. I crawled about 30 meters. There was a landing, I could see the village, the first street. People had already gathered, heard me screaming, 05:08.824 --> 05:27.889 position:50% align:middle but were afraid to come down. I had to crawl or walk about 50 meters to the field. There were already fields there, you could walk there. So, I stood on one leg and jumped. 05:27.889 --> 05:43.650 position:50% align:middle I ran another 50 meters to the field. Then I fell down, the grass was up to my chest. I fell and screamed: “Take me, take me!” The guys came and took me away. 05:43.650 --> 05:49.510 position:50% align:middle They took me upstairs, where an ambulance was waiting. We took the ambulance and went to the hospital. I had no foot. 05:49.510 --> 06:03.103 position:50% align:middle I didn’t go into much [detail] about how I was going to be crippled or anything like that. I thought everything would be fine, they would fix my leg, I would walk, I would work. 06:03.103 --> 06:17.245 position:50% align:middle After us... In short, four people were blown up in our village. This is in one village, not counting the neighboring villages, where there were also fatalities. 06:17.245 --> 06:30.690 position:50% align:middle In the fields, workers on tractors blew themselves up. And after we left, after this happened, many people from the State Emergency Service came, and there was humanitarian demining. 06:30.690 --> 06:44.105 position:50% align:middle They completely demined this particular bank of the river. When I was getting prosthetics in Kryvyi Rih, my friends gave me a phone number and said that there was 06:44.105 --> 06:58.088 position:50% align:middle a foundation that deals with this. Here you can rest, not hear explosions and relax. For example, in the same warm pool. Thermal, I think it’s called. I think it’s good. 06:58.088 --> 07:06.954 position:50% align:middle The main thing is that nothing falls on your head. I mean, that there is no war. And if everything goes well, we will try to do something. 07:06.954 --> 07:19.050 position:50% align:middle Maybe we will go to work, and everything will be fine. Do not lose hope. Life goes on. We have to provide for ourselves. How do you do that? 07:19.050 --> 07:30.679 position:50% align:middle You can say this: who will need you if not yourself, right? If you have the inspiration and desire, I think you can feed yourself without a leg or an arm, 07:30.679 --> 07:39.640 position:50% align:middle earn money and do everything. There is no need to despair. Everything will be fine. Everything will be Ukraine.