"I was crawling under this rubble and shouting to my mother, “Are you alive?!"

Once Iryna saw a dream: a rocket hit her house. On 14 March 2022, that nightmare came true. At 5 o’clock in the morning, an artillery shell hit a nine-storey residential building in Obolon micro-district of Kyiv. Iryna was in her flat together with her 81-year-old mother and their cat. The walls and stair flights collapsed. Fountains of water gushed from broken pipes. Pungent smoke from the fire was everywhere. Iryna and her mother turned out to have nerves of steel, and their cat had nine lives, as it turned out later.

Our section of the house is in a completely uninhabitable shape. There are no communication lines: no electricity, no water, and no gas. The gas pipe was damaged, the walls and the shaft of the lift were destroyed, the staircase flights collapsed down to the third floor.

Then I remembered it. This dream turned out to be prophetic. At the time of the rocket strike, my mother and I were in the flat on the fourth floor. We slept in different rooms. It was at 5 o’clock in the morning. There were other residents in their flats too. Many people had left by that time, but at that moment, there were definitely about twenty people in our section of the building. It is painful to remember this. We woke up to a flash of bright light and a loud cracking sound. Apparently, the chest of drawers that was behind my head softened the blow. The wall in front of me cracked in half. I realized that I needed to mobilize my strength and do everything to get out of the situation.

She screamed back, “Yes, I am alive!” Water was gushing from the bathtub. The water pipe was cracked. Smoke was coming up from below. I looked out into the street and saw that a flat below was on fire. I realized that we could choke to death. I remembered my skills. I work as a schoolteacher and we have lessons called “Safety of life”. I soaked two terry towels in water – one for my mother and the other one for myself – and told her to talk less, breathe less, and not be nervous.

When the rescue services came, I ran out onto the balcony and shouted, “We are here!” I tried to find some of our clothes that could still remain there. I understood that it was March outside and we were not dressed to the weather. I found a bag with documents. Then the firefighters took us down to the ground using a fire ladder. The entrance door was blocked and it was impossible to go down the main stairs. On the fourth [floor], there was still a staircase intact, but further down there, there was just emptiness. My mum had her legs slashed. I slept dressed and this saved me from splinters.

I wake up at night, lie in bed and think, “What if it [rocket] hits? What will I do? How will I act? What if it strikes – and I will not be able to get out of bed anymore?” The feeling of fear for the children. My children live in a rented flat. I have a grown up daughter. She is married. They live on the 21st floor, which is high. I have health problems. Blood pressure. I found our cat inside the flat. She was not breathing. I took her from the corridor into the room, but then I realized that she was gone.

. I placed her next to the armchair. We were taken out of the flat. When all the work was done, I thought that I needed to return to the flat and find the cat’s body. At around 11 o’clock we were allowed to go into our flat. A blogger, his name was Dima, came in with us. I was in a state of prostration or stupor. He asked, “Where is your cat?” – “She’s dead, but she needs to be buried.” Dima said, “The cat is breathing.” We later found out that her paws were broken. She went deaf. Apparently, she had a shell shock. She’s got nine lives.

City mayor Vitaliy Klychko promised us that the repair work would be completed by the beginning of the heating season. We hope so. Most of all, we worry about how to survive the winter and we hope that the work is carried out with good quality. There is nothing inside the flat.

Luckily, we found some of our clothes. Now our thoughts are, “Once I am back to our flat, I need to buy a washing machine, some furniture, and dishes.” Most importantly, I want silence and peace. I would like all this to be over as soon as possible. I want to live on up until the time when I have my grandchildren. I also want to live in a free and peaceful country. I want to go to work and be useful.

I work as a primary school teacher. My pupils are now in the 4th grade. Unfortunately, we all fled in February. We went to different corners of the world. Many children are abroad, but we are constantly in touch. They send me some photos. Everyone is missing each other; everyone wants to see each other. Many kids have returned. We meet but not often. These are my children, and these are my parents. At that moment everyone... When the tragedy happened, I found my phone. There were a hundred unanswered calls, including calls from my parents. It was an enormous moral support.

The main thing is human life, the life of children, and their future. The worst thing is that small children, who are 8-9 years old, see all this. It is terrible that they have to know when to go to the bomb shelter. This is the worst thing. Children are faced with some unchildish things. This is scary, really scary. It is terrible to imagine that the school can come under an attack while you are teaching a lesson. This is just horrible.