"APCs blocked the road. Our bus began to go around them. The Russians were pointing fingers at us and making fun of us"

A full-scale invasion caught Mykola in a boarding school in Berdiansk. In a few days of occupation, only five adults remained from the staff. The boy recalls how then the older students supported the younger ones: they helped and calmed them down.

During the evacuation from the city, a bus with children ran into Russian vehicles. APCs blocked the road. And yet, they let the bus through. Mykola began a new life from that moment. Currently, the boy is growing up in a loving family in Odesa. Last year, he joined the All-Ukrainian essay contest “My Ukraine”, which was held by the Museum of Civilian Voices. The guy told his story of the war and became one of the winners of the project.