Kravchenko Alexey, 76 years old:
We live, unfortunately, on the line of contact, Svetlodar arc, in Svetlodarsk. We have a one-room apartment. We lived with our daughter in a three-room apartment until 2015. Then the shelling was crazy in our town.
Rarely was there a house which has not been damaged. For the glass it’s not even discussed, the windows flew out. There were three direct hits to our house, not counting the mass of breaks around. And near the school, and at the school stadium, two more missiles hit, and at the end of the neighboring house. There were enough explosions.
The shelling on January 24, 2015 was especially memorable. We were in a bomb shelter in our house. But it was unprepared, not commissioned, you couldn’t be there. We set up a corner there to hide during the bombing.
And so it exploded that the windows flew out with the frames, the doors. And the grandson jumped out. He was nine years old. He hugged his grandmother by the leg and shouted: “Grandma! I do not want to die; I have not lived a long time! " You know, as a former soldier who served 28 years in the army, it was a shame, to tears it was insulting and bitter from my powerlessness, from the inability to help a child, help children, help my wife.
There was no light for four days, the gas was cut off. It burned so much at night ... there was something to see. And darkness. The village went extinct, the town died out and that's it, not a sound, not a half sound. Only dogs bark. Horror.
I am a military man who served in an artillery regiment, even though I was used to explosions and shots. But now someone somewhere is slamming a car door on the street – I’m already listening, is it an arrival or a shot? For every sharp sound, pop, the reaction is instant. First of all, to protect or shelter the grandchildren.
My wife went deaf. Even before she heard so badly, but now she doesn’t hear anything at all. Age wasn't the reason, it's nervous. Every nonsense fills her instantly with fear, fear, fear. At first I thought she was just pretending, like a woman, and then I saw that her lips were turning blue and trembling, all trembling. I have not seen this, I have lived in the men's team all the time. How can you be so afraid?
Nadezhda Kravchenko, 76 years old:
In 2013 I suffered a microstroke, and in 2015 I suffered a stroke. Well, I moved away a little, I work, I walk. This is fear. In the summer of 2014, the grandson was in the third grade. He was walking in the garden. And bombs started falling near the garden! I was standing on the porch. He flew over the fence, as if someone threw him. He grabbed me, shouted: “Grandma, let's go away! Let's hide, grandma! " Where to hide? I don’t know.
Kravchenko Alexey:
Previously, people just wanted peace and wellbeing. And now we have truly learned the value of peace, this very word. What a rich and desirable word it is, and what a hope that peace will come. I hope every moment that a time of peace will come, and I reassure my wife that it will come. It cannot be such that there will be an endless war. You and I will not just dance, but also dance the “hopak”, our Ukrainian dance. But, unfortunately, so far this is only in dreams and hopes.
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