When the mine fell in the yard, five-year-old Polina was at home with her grandmother. Her parents had just gone to fetch water, which saved their lives. Many of the neighbours were injured by shrapnel. And the kids ran to hide under a coat hanger. "My grandmother did not notice that I was gone. It was a cosy place,’ the girl recalls. - ‘And in the shelter they fed me soup and bread. When I was in the basement, I wanted something sweet. A cake or a pastry‘.