Mother Natalia Kolomiiets:
It was quiet, peaceful. Everyone got used to stillness. They started firing again. They unfold their attacks in the evening. Even though they have become scarce, but they shoot shoot. This has been going on since 2014. There was nowhere to go. We can't leave, can we?" We can't leave our home. That is how we live. The main thing is to stay calm when they start shelling. That's it.
It got harder. I was calm before the war. I was not afraid of anything. Now everyone is tense and afraid. When you're at home, you're kind of safe, but when you're at work or Katia's at school, it's hard. She wasn't afraid before, but when a shell hit us, she got terrified.
It happened on 17 November 2017. Daughter came home from school and sat down to eat with her grandmother. It was about 12:00 p.m. A shell fell into the yard. All windows shattered. I was at work, and the daughter was at grandmother's. I was sitting behind the door, and the impact on that place there was the worst — a shell fell just outside the door into the garden. Daughter was thrown by the blast wave, She and the grandmother were thrown on the floor.
The windows were shattered, the slate was destroyed, and the shed was badly damaged. There were animals there. They were injured. The garage was damaged as well. My house and the house next door were badly damaged.
We heard this popping sound. I called my dad, and he said that a shell hit the yard. I came straight from work. A mother is always worried about her child.
We called an ambulance, went to the hospital, and received first aid. She injured her big toe. She had bruises on her back and on her arms. We were so stressed. She used to be so calm. Now she is hysterical. She needs medication. I just wish she would forget it with time. I just wish they stopped shooting. Once they do, we will try to forget it ever happened.
Girl:
I came home from school. I asked my grandmother to make me something to eat. She fix up something very quickly. I was eating when a shell fell. The blast wave was very strong. I couldn't see anything. My grandmother and I just closed our eyes, because there was so much dust in the air.
Well, then, when the wave passed, we looked up and saw that all the windows were broken, and the doors were smashed. Grandmother told me to run to the bathroom and lie down on the floor. I didn't lie down, because I thought there might be glass or something like that on the floor. It must have fallen. I just crouched down.
I took off my boot and saw a lot of blood on my finger. It didn't hurt, though. Well, someone called the doctor. He came and bandaged my foot. Then I was taken to the hospital. They inserted in an IV and bandaged the wound. On Saturday, when I was sleeping, and I was sleeping with my mother, I had a dream about it as if it happened again.
We can hear shooting in the evening or at night when all the people are usually asleep. Well, I count to ten, then I feel better. When they start shooting heavily, we run to the basement. It's not as scary as staying in the room.
Mother:
She didn't know what it was at the time. She just got scared even though she was unaware what it was. She was terrified. She sleeps with me, because she is afraid to sleep alone. And when she's at grandma's, she sleeps with grandma. She is afraid to stay alone even at home. She still fears something bad will happen.
When this all happened, we got a call from the Rinat Akhmetov Humanitarian Center and offered to help. We managed on our own at first. And then they gave us vacation package to Kuyalnyk. They help children forget all this horror that happens to them and get positive emotions.
It got quiet in here. They don't shoot any more. The child is used to silence and does not want to go home because of the shooting. We hope that everything will be fine.
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