"My husband was shouting, "Ira, get down!"

I have lived in the village of Chernenko since 2005. The armed hostilities began after 14 November. There was a checkpoint on the highway. We could hear the shells fall. We would go out of the house, and they would whistle over the yard. It was so scary! You begin to think, "It's going to fall, it's going to fall…"

Then in January 2015, there was a very strong shooting attack. Houses were damaged —roofs, windows in my house the adjuring houses. It was very scary. The whole thing happened at 8 o'clock in the morning. My husband was shouting, "Ira, get down! The ceiling light fell from behind, and the explosion tore it off. God, I thought that was it... Now I am completely grey.

All the windows were blown out, and the wall and roof were bombed. There was nothing I could do. I covered the windows  with carpets... that is how I spent the winter. Ans so that dogs and cats wouldn't jump into the house. We lived with no electricity for six months after that – electricity poles were broken.

 I had chickens, a cat, a dog. I had vegetable gardens. We harvested potatoes and made canned vegetables.

 During the attacks, I mostly lay down on the floor in the house. I remember I would think, "If it gets into the basement and the slabs fall over me, I won't get out of there at all."

 There was no transport to the city, no shops. Only in Hnutove. You need to go 40 minutes on foot there, 40 minutes back. I once went over the river to take a shortcut. Some soldiers trained and practiced shooting there. Not it It is vacant. They let me through. But I never went there again. Everything around was mined there.

We received food packages from Rinat Akhmetov. I am very grateful to him. I don't know how we would have lived without this aid.

The only thing we are waiting for is peace. I never thought we would witness a war. And there you go. All we want is peace and prosperity.