‘My father ran to the railway track and stayed inside a big pipe till the morning’

Pavlo Mykhailovych Dergachov, 87 years old:

One girl asked who built our house. I said: ‘Two heads, four hands, four legs and two bodies – my wife and I. And that is it.’ ‘And where did you get those pilasters, those carved/decorated windows?’ I answered: ‘Well. We thought it over and came up with these ideas.’ It all burned down completely there. Not a single stick, not a single piece of metal was left there. Metal was deformed, even the toilet burned down. And that’d be it.

I was in the yard when the shelling started. I was trying to bear it a bit, but then suddenly everything was on fire! I took to my heels. I don’t know where the shell hit. The fence and even the front yard, front garden was damaged. Nothing was left alive there: the house burned down and the livestock burned down too: there were hens and pigeons, there was a pig, there were chickens, there was a dog. Everything burned down there…

We buried two family members at once here – my brother and daughter-in-law. My brother died in 2015. His wife was paralyzed. He was buried, and then she was buried too. She was feeding him. He was 90 years old. He suffered and got stressed and that was it. He came to me when my house was still intact. He came to me three times, apparently, to say goodbye. I cheered him up. And then, I was told that he was gone. He died.

If not for the children, I would kick the bucket. I only rely upon my children. They bring me some food, borshch [Ukrainian red soup], some fish, like herring. Only they don't let me die. Well, it’s ok. As the saying goes: we saw what used to be and we’ll see what is to come.

Son, Stanislav Pavlovych Dergachov:

I watched from the garden how they [the shells] whistled and then heard the explosions rumbling over there, in that area. And I saw when the house caught fire. It was in the evening. Where to run to? It was a curfew. They only allowed people to go out from six a.m. till eight p.m. So, I didn't go. In the morning, I took the car and came there. The house was burning out.

My father rushed out of the kitchen and ran to the railway track. There, near the railroad, there was a large heap and a large pipe going through it. So, he was staying inside that pipe. In the morning, I came to his home. He was walking around the yard in his underwear. He was black and smudgy. And I took him to my place. He stayed with me for several days. Then uncle died here and my father moved here, to this yard.