Nina Mykhailivna Lozovska, 69 years old:
In the past, young people used to be looking for something better somewhere. So did we when we came here. We settled down. Made a family, children, grandchildren, we also have great-grandchildren. We have been living quietly. I never thought this could be. Brothers were nearby.
We had a front garden and flowers. Now there is nothing. We have lived here for half a century and now this has happened to us. It’s good we have covered the roof. Everything was wrecked, damaged in the house. Well, that’s all right. The main thing is we are alive. Lord, this is not terrible. It is terrible that people are hit and houses are destroyed. We have got used to it, but this is a very bad thing to get used to. I would not wish it to anyone, as they say. I wouldn’t wish such a life on my worst enemy.
Volodymyr Vasyliovych Lozovskyi, 75 years old:
The shelling began. And my wife and I always know it: once a shelling starts – we stay some 6-7 hours in the cellar. We spend the night there until the morning. And in the morning, when it calms down, we go out. That is our life.
The roof was damaged in two places. When they shelled, it hit the coal shed. The walls were damaged, as well as the windows, the frames and the pane glass. Nothing is left. Those are the shell fragments. Can you see what they hit us with? It damaged near the water well too, the windowpanes were shattered. A dog was killed here... A tractor was damaged, a seeder.
Nina Mykhailivna:
We have been staying in the cellar for about two months. We don’t sleep in the house, not a single night. Once the evening comes, they start shelling. We go down to the cellar then and stay there until the morning. We are like fixtures in that cellar. We are tired of it. You don’t know when, at what second, and where it gets you. I feel like I am mad, like I am not myself. We are 70 years old and we have to stay in the cellar.
Volodymyr Vasyliovych:
Dampness. It’s damp here. I’m already starting to cough.
Nina Mykhailivna:
It is very hard. I don’t want anything anymore. Is there life in the cellar? This is torment and not life.
Volodymyr Vasyliovych:
I wish our grandchildren and great-grandchildren would not learn what this war is.
Nina Mykhailivna:
I hope that everything will be fine for them. I want it to be over as soon as possible. I dream of seeing this shelling stop.
This is our grandson on the picture when he was little. He has a daughter now, our great-granddaughter. These are our grandchildren, our younger son’s children. They are twins. Sometimes, it was a year or so since we last saw them. And once it was two years since we last saw them. It’s a pity, so pity. I want that our grandchildren and our children could live well.
I would sacrifice my life to be able to hear this: ‘The war will end and the children will be living well.’
What do we dream about? We dream about peace, about good life for our children. We have seen this life. We are going to reach our journey’s end. We feel sorry for the children, sorry for the grandchildren. What kind of life awaits them and what will happen next? We hope for the better.
