Mykyta Manerko:

A shell may fall. Bang! And that's it, you're dead

A shell fell next to me, near the apricot tree. The road kerb was warped, broken by fragments. I'm afraid to come here, because I can still remember it. Somehow I feel ill at ease. I'm afraid it will happen again.

A shell may fall. Bang! And that's it, you're dead

It must have been eight o'clock in the evening. I was walking, listening to music on the phone. But the sounds of music were interrupted by  this "banging" sound. Well, I thought it wasn't something terrible, a usual attack somewhere. A few minutes later, I heard the 'banging' nearby.

I looked back and saw a flash. I realized that I was hurt. I ran into the house. And at first, I was deafened. I could just hear ringing in the ears! I ran into the house quickly and lay down, because shells were still falling. Then I told my grandmother that I was injured. She said, "How?" She started to cry. I was in pain, but I didn't cry.

We went to her room. She made a tourniquet because my leg was cut through and the blood was running very fast. I had to stop the bleeding. But the tourniquet didn't help, the blood was still oozing.

Grandmother:

A shell may fall. Bang! And that's it, you're dead

When I saw his wounds — his head was bleeding, his side was bleeding, his legs were all covered in blood — I realised that it was bad and that he needed help. Then Son ran in, and I said, "Son, the grandson is injured." We dragged him to the neighbour's house. All neighbour came round. I knew what to do. We called an ambulance, but the ambulance couldn't come because of the fighting.

Mykyta:

We had to take him to the hospital, but a shell fell near the garage as well. The car was hit. We went to the neighbors. We asked the military to help us. They came running, tied a tourniquet and took me to Avdiivka. They bandaged me up and sent me to a military hospital in Krasnoarmiisk. Well, they brought me there at one o'clock in the morning. After my wound was examined, I was taken to a surgery room.

Mother:

A shell may fall. Bang! And that's it, you're dead

I felt ill at ease. I felt that something was wrong. Something bad was about to happen or was happening. I told my partner, "Something is about to happen." And she said, "Calm down, it's okay." Well, it happened in the evening.

My godmother, Mykyta's godmother, called me and said that Kamianka was shelled. I started calling, but I couldn't get through. Then my grandmother picked up the phone and said that Mykyta was injured. He did a good job and didn't cry. They said that he is young and will survive, "Everything will be fine."

Mykyta:

We got a call from Rinat Akhmetov Humanitarian Center and offered to undertake rehabilitation in Odessa. We agreed. Compared to what I had before, I feel much better.

You can die at any time, because a shell can fall and kill you. Bang! That's it, and you're gone. This is the most frightening thing.