Olga Liashkevych

"We heard shots and explosions”

My name is Olya, I am 14 years old. The war is something that will always remain in my memory.

Let's start with 2014. I'll never forget it. At the very beginning of the war, I was in Donetsk, but then there was no strong shelling in my city. After that, my parents sent me, my brothers, and my grandparents to the sea, away from Donetsk. I want to say a huge THANK you to them for this!!!

Then they came to us, too. They had to work remotely! And so we stayed in the Crimea for three months. When the school was about to start, my parents decided that we were going to Mariupol, to my mother's sister. There we rented an apartment and went to school. At first it was hard and unusual, then everything got better at school.

To be honest, I don't remember when it was, but it was scary. One day our whole family was sitting at home – and then we heard gunshots and explosions. Furniture, chandeliers, everything in the apartment began to shake. Without thinking, we grabbed our things and drove to another part of the city to visit my aunt.

Later we learned that the Eastern district of Mariupol was shelled. We saw people running away, they were screaming and crying, they didn't want to leave their homes. Thank God, such events did not happen again.

2015 was also spent in Mariupol. I only went to Donetsk on holidays. I was overly happy!!!

In 2017, I moved to another district, but I still live in Mariupol. It is difficult for me to describe my desire to return to peaceful Donetsk without war and disagreements.

If this happens, I will be very happy!!!

When quoting a story, a reference to the source – the Museum of Civilian Voices of the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation – is mandatory, as follows:

The Museum of Civilian Voices of the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation https://civilvoicesmuseum.org/