«Every day we pray and think: will we wake up tomorrow or not»

Pionerske used to be a resort village. There were children’s camps here. There used to be so many children, so many people here! Music played from morning till night. That was nice. How everything has changed, unbelievable. It is impossible to live. It was very scary when shells were exploding, because everything trembled here. You don’t know where to go. We ran down to the cellar to hide. We would run there very often. We got tired of it. Can we run like that? You rather think how to... We hope for God. It was very scary. But where to go? We need to live on.

I have health problems. I had a tumour on my vertebra, but it was not a malignant tumour. Yet, it was a real pain in the neck. And my legs ... If I had continued to stay in bed a little more, I would have sacrificed my legs and my arms. I would have turned into a complete lying case. It’s not clear what could be. We realized it before it was too late. In 2012, my daughter died. It was such a huge stress. I can’t describe it. The youngest girl, my granddaughter, is 13 years old. She died in her arms. We lived normally, everything seemed to be fine and then this case struck us.

We are afraid of everything. Every day we pray and think: will we wake up tomorrow or not. We are afraid of everything. If shelling starts, you go around the vegetable garden and do not know where to run. It is very scary and we are so tired of it, indeed. We want peace. Children are stressed and so are we, especially the elderly...