On the day of the invasion, Nina Bondar was heading to a training. On the way to the railway station, her minibus came under fire. They missed a deadly shell by just a few minutes. At home, Nina’s husband and two daughters were waiting for her. The younger one was only three years old then. 

The shelter in the nearby school was too cramped for the family. So they moved into a house that had stood empty for many years. It happened that the active Nina became a volunteer for others — seventeen residents of Lysychansk. Mostly elderly people and people with disabilities. Nina found bread and medicine, bringing food under shelling.

For several weeks, the small commune survived under fire, distributing duties among themselves. After spending a long time in the basement, Nina’s younger daughter fell ill. They had to leave urgently. Nina couldn’t abandon the others, so they all went together. She recalls the several-day evacuation as the greatest horror of her life, because she nearly died during the bombing of the Lozova railway station.