She came under shelling while walking in the park.

Oleksandra’s daughter, 15-year-old Kira from Kharkiv, received a severe abdominal wound. A shell fragment pierced the girl’s stomach and injured her internal organs. The girl was able to stand on her feet again only a month later.

My husband and I were at home, while she went out for a walk. We thought she was walking near the school. It is not far from our home.

We had infrequent shelling in our area, but it never reached us, never reached as far as where we live. We heard Grad MLRS firing and rockets flying. We thought she was in the neighbourhood near the school. If the shelling started, they would run to the basement of the school building. My husband and I were at home and heard a strong rattling. We realized that this was not outgoing artillery fire, but incoming one. We know that as we have been living in Kharkiv since the first days of the war.

We ran into the hallway and I grabbed my phone to call our daughter and ask where she was. I looked at the phone and saw that she was calling me right at that moment. I thought that she was probably scared. I answered the phone and heard a male voice saying that “your child came under fire, and we...”

I asked, “Where?” But the man started shouting, “Zelenyi Hai!” I realized that it was far away. My husband and I ran out. We asked some volunteers to give us a ride. When we were approaching the park, we saw that some people were standing there and three children were lying on the ground.

I ran up to my daughter... I was scared when coming close to her. She did not cry, she was conscious of her actions.

We called an ambulance and were told that the medical teams were on the way. The State Emergency Service staff came and began to provide first aid, as they were the first to go around the area after the shelling. They [the children] asked for some water, but it turned out that they shouldn’t have been given water – the Emergency Service men explained it to us and also started calling an ambulance as representatives of the Emergency Service. I asked those rescue guys what kind of shelling it was and whether it was from Grad MLRS.

They said that it was not. Those were some cluster bombs. And then the ambulance came. The shelling of the area was very intense and that is why many ambulances were involved. She [the daughter] and a boy were placed in one ambulance, and another girl was taken by some other people. And then we were taken to the military hospital, where they received the medical aid. I am very grateful to the military hospital for the way they received us and for their understanding.

Then we were transferred to the children’s department. The attitude there was just excellent and warm too, both from junior staff and from surgeons. And so we were staying there on a recovery course. She came in a severe condition, but she kept a stiff upper lip as she did not lose consciousness. The first bandages were put under anaesthesia, and under shelling. There were many children from our area then. That is why we were taken not to the children’s hospital, but to the military hospital. KhTZ district, well, everyone knows it under this name. This is closer to the exit out of the city.

They even left us the shell fragment, as a keepsake. The one they extracted from her body. We thought that she would not be able to walk. We didn’t know right away that it was a shell fragment…

As it was a blunt wound. Later, when we did a CT imaging, they found it. It went through the stomach and remained in her spinal column. We wish we could just live a normal life and celebrate the holidays together with our daughter. We cannot do sports anymore. She was in cheerleading previously. That is why it is so frustrating now. We went back home from time to time, despite the bombing there. We still kept coming home.

Every second day, I stayed for the night with her. My husband also came to see her – we either took a taxi, or someone gave us a ride. Rockets kept flying, time and again. We were afraid to think that we would not be able to get there. But we decided that if anything happened, we would go on foot. The main thing is her rehabilitation, so that this does not disturb her in the future. Well, her back will recover, but the abdominal injury was quite severe. And now she needs to be operated on in order to have the colostomy hidden.

Then, we will focus on the rehabilitation, so that she does not suffer any torments in the future. We are making more plans for the future now.

She was afraid that she would not be able to walk. I promised her that she would dance the waltz.

We have been supporting her. The whole hospital has been supporting her – doctors would bring her flowers. We believed that it would work out well, that she would be able to stand up and walk, and would be happy, because she is a very strong girl. It was very scary, I would say, especially in the early days, as the bombing was very heavy. We had problems with getting food. Anyway, the city is beautiful. Well, it was heavily bombed, a lot was damaged.

Many people are afraid, many people hide. But in general the city is good. Everything is clean and I hope that everything will be restored soon.