"When you witness what happens to your son, you live in constant fear"

We live in Kramatorsk. I lived a quiet life, nothing bad was about to happen. We went to work. Our child went to school. At first, people didn't know anything about it. War was a matter of the past.

War affects you when you see it with your own eyes. And when it happens somewhere far away, it doesn't seem to concern you.

In Kramatorsk, the first thing we saw was checkpoints and some unknown military men. It was impossible to go out on the street. It was forbidden. This started in April or May 2014. First, the situation escalated in Sloviansk. This is not far from us, a few kilometers. Then the military came to Kramatorsk.

There was no water at all in the city, because the water supply system that supplied water to the city was bombed. They brought water by cars. We had to stand for hours to take it. 

In 2014, it was June or July, and the attacks started. We hear them, too, but we don't see them. What are they?" Bombs of some kind? People have never faced war. This is all unfamiliar to us. Then there was an attack – and already several houses were damaged. Shells hit residential buildings. Not next to us, but about this – the city is small – everyone immediately found out about it.

Children were sent to children's camps. We also sent our son away for a while, thinking that maybe all this will calm down. But it took a long time. 

10 February 2015 was a normal day. The school has been quarantined because of the flu. Vadik called his classmates – and they decided to go out for a walk. It was almost noon.

The children went out and suddenly all the residents of the city heard a terrible, indescribable sound. You could not see what that was, what was happening. Phone communications were cut off. We could not get through to our son.

We live in a high-rise block. There is an airfield nearby. We looked out of the window – we don't see anything like that. We just heard sounds that were  scary and strong.

When the connection was resumed, we called our son again, and another voice answeed. They said, "Your son has been injured." At first, we thought it was a hoax. I couldn't understand how this could happen at all. Then I remember saying, "Where should we run?" They told us to go to a particular house. An ambulance would come there soon.

It turned out that when the three children were walking, shells flew by. Two boys were injured — my son and another boy. And the third one got away. An ambulance arrived and took them to the hospital.

They were operated on right away.

The son later said that they heard terrible sounds, and they were very scared. They began to run. They ran to the nearest house where the boy Artem lived. The children were so scared that they didn't know what was happening to them at all.

Vladik told me then that he thought that mother and father would be mad at him. "Then,"he says," I thought maybe I was dead and something was happening that I didn't understand."

When they ran into the entrance, I felt that my leg was hot. I touched my leg with my hand, and it was covered in blood. They went home to this boy. There was an old man there, and he called an ambulance.

At that time, they were 13 years old. Our son has a through-and-through shrapnel wound to his right hip.

The child had four operations. While they were in the hospital, any strong sound that occurred on the street – a car passed, for example, or something else  – Vadik was constantly scared, he was afraid to hear these sounds. A psychologist came to see him.

We were shocked. In moments like this, you don't care how you look, whether you ate or didn't eat, whether you slept or didn't sleep. You just want to be close to your child. All these operations... The child is bandaged.

When we were in the hospital, we were all thinking that the child would be fine, that he would recover faster. We just prayed to God that all operations were successful, so that there are no consequences.

The Rinat Akhmetov Foundation began to help us with medicines from the first days we stayed in the hospital. We are not alone. The medications were all expensive, and they provided us with everything we needed and the help of a psychologist.

Ordinary people, strangers, also came to the hospital. They brought fruit and juice. Classmates and teachers came to visit.  Every day someone came. The child had always someone to talk to.

When you witness what happens to your son, you live in constant fear. Every day you listen to any and every sound. Whenever a helicopter flies by, you can already see where it went. I heard any sound and feel alerted right away. You live in constant anxiety, and you have a bag of documents at home, with all the necessary things. Suddenly a heavy bombardment – you realize that you will have to run away from here, save the life of the child and the whole family.

It seems to be quiet in the city now. But there is no certainty that this will actually be the case. The child is already an adult. He is 17 years old, but it is impossible to forget what had happened.

He has anxiety to this day.

The worst thing that can happen to anyone is war. This is the pain for your loved ones. Living in constant fear is what war is.

My son has a muscle-skeleton disorder. He was registered as a disabled person. Now we are again on rehabilitation in the city of Kyiv, in Zhovten sanatorium.

The child is undergoing sanatorium-resort therapy. We hope that it will get better. Here it is quiet, fresh air, children rest from everything. Even the environment itself relieves tension.

Vladik finished school and entered KAU, Faculty of Psychology. He likes this profession. He believes that nowadays the profession of a psychologist is relevant, especially in our region. There are many families and traumatised children.

Vlad worked with psychologists from the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation. The first time he met with a psychologist, he couldn't understand what he wanted from him. Some man came and wanted something from him, he thought.  The child was 13 years old then. Then he realized that the psychologist is the person who should listen to you. And so he began to share his feelings with him – it became easier for him.

Children can not always tell their parents what they will tell a stranger.

When he was released from the hospital, the doctors suggested that we study at home. But Vladik said, "Mom, why should I stay at home? I'd rather go to school." I said, "What if someone will push you. You know how children can behave. They all run. Not everyone knows you're injured." "No, no, no, I want to go to school."

We also consulted with a psychologist. He said, "Of course, it is better if the child can be among his classmates, so that he does not lock himself in. He will be alone at home. Teachers will come to him to study, but this is not the same."