"My fingers were covered in blood. I hid them so that mother wouldn't see them"

Ivan Kharkovskyi, 13 years old:

We were hanging with the boys. When I was on my way home, I found this bullet. So I came home, had dinner. Then I decided to make a hole in the bullet.  Once I started meddling with it, it exploded. I don't remember anything after that.

Brother Oleksii Kharkovskyi, 22 years old:

Armed hostilities hadn't started here. Some people came from the army or from the ATO zone. Maybe someone gave him that. We asked him that on the way. And he said, "I found it by the kindergarten on the asphalt." That's it. Maybe he did find it or maybe someone gave it to him.  He said that he wanted to make a pendant.   

I was at home. I was about to head for work in two hours. I was doing some things. Then I heard an explosing sound. It happened at about one o'clock. I ran to the street, and my younger brother Vania ran to the threshold. There was blood everywhere.

I rushed to my mother. I brought a bandage. So I bandaged the wound. Then Mother started calling an ambulance. I looked up and saw that it exploded. When I came in, I could smell gunpowder in the air. The window was broken, and blood was everywhere. It came from the fingers. I hid them so that mother wouldn't see them.

I rendered first aid. They served in the army, so I knew how to do it. I bandaged the wound and made sure he didn't see it. I thought he might faint. Then he said, "My stomach hurts." I lifted the T-shirt and saw fragments in it.

There was a kindergarten nearby. He said that he found a bullet on the road. 

Mother Svitlana Kharkovska:

When we heard this crash, my older son was the first to run out. When he saw him at the door, and he screamed, "Mum, come here!" I saw my son, but I don't remember what happened after that. I remember that my son put a tourniquet on his arm. I remember pulling on a towel and screaming.

Then I ran to the paramedic. The paramedic called an ambulance. I started calling my husband to come. I sent my son by ambulance to the hospital with my older son, and I ran to look for money. I took the money. Then my husband and I went to the hospital.

He had a surgery for five hours in Bilovodsk. Then I was advised to send him to the intensive care unit in Lysychansk. He was taken to the intensive care unit in Lysychansk on the second day.

The Rinat Akhmetov Foundation helped us a lot with medicine. I'm very grateful for that. When Son was taken to the intensive care unit, they contacted us on the second day. They started bringing medicines. He should have been given painkillers, because he was in terrible pain. The intestines were punctured, his fingers were torn off.

We really appreciate what Rinat Akhmetov did for us. Indeed. We are very grateful for his help. We have been to sanatorium for the first time. We have never been there before.

It's very nice here. Son goes swimming, has some treatment. My son feels much better. He settled him mind a bit, especially after mud baths. He couldn't raise his hand normally, but now he can raise it well. Massages are very helpful as well. He really likes them.