‘We don’t have a cellar. There is an inspection pit in the garage. We stayed in that pit’

The granddaughter, Olha Isayeva:

I don’t know where it flew from and where to. We were in the house. It fell behind the road. It’s good that we were in the other bed-room where we don’t have windows. We woke up from a loud explosion. The window glass shattered.

We were already used to it banging, but there came such a loud rumble and all our windows shattered. The crack on the wall went up from the very foundation of the house. The windows were blown out instantly. It damaged the dog kennel and killed the dog. There were holes in the wall. The roof slate on the neighbour’s house was damaged. Our roof slate remained intact due to the tree, most likely.

I want to go home. Grandmothers will be grandmothers, but I still want to live separately. I have my own family, after all.

We moved here on 12 February 2015 because a shell fell in front of our house. It killed the dog and crushed the dog kennel. All window glasses were shattered. We have three windows in the house, so all the three were shattered. We have a house consisting of three apartments. So now none of the three families lives there because it is impossible to live there. The house’s walls drew apart. We cannot install the windows as the house needs to be tightened, reinforced first. However, we are not going to do it because we don’t know what will happen next.

Grandmother Mariya Silayeva, 85 years old:

It banged and exploded so hard as if it was in my yard and fragments flew in all directions. We found those fragments. If it were not for the tree, they could hit inside the house, but they stuck in the tree. It is horror of horrors. I cannot describe it. They fired from such guns that I have not seen in my life. It looked like a terrible ball that flew and illuminated everything on its way

Shells also hit here, they did not explode, across the road. It was a Doomsday. Lord, I wish they would calm down sooner, so that we could live peacefully and quietly, so that we could go to bed not being afraid that they would be shelling at night.

Olha Isayeva:

Our eldest son Sashko was very scared when there was a shelling in August. He was very scared and he became so aggressive. He reacts very aggressively on everything. We tell him: ‘Sashko, you can`t do that,’ but he starts shouting even more. We cannot touch him absolutely.

And our daughter Raisa is fine, she endured the shelling without consequences. Thank God, she is fine. But as for Sashko, we need to take him to psychologist now to somehow soothe him and set him at ease.

They run around and play. Sometimes, even if it rumbles somewhere in the distance, they run around and play not paying attention to it. At first, they were scared, but now they come up and say: ‘Mom, it bangs.’ They used to run [for shelter], used to be afraid, but now it is something normal for them. We got used to the fact that sometimes it happens, that it rumbles. We almost do not react to it. Only when it starts very loudly, then yes.

We do not have a cellar. There is a garage and an inspection pit in the garage. We stayed in that pit, and we have one room without windows there. We do not have water supply, otherwise we basically have electricity and gas supply.

The problem is that they fire very loudly sometimes, but it is not clear where from and where to. Thank God it doesn't fly in here. We do not heat much with gas now, because we do not have such money. We burn firewood. There is nowhere to take firewood from here, but if you want to buy it – people are not allowed to bring it here. You can only bring firewood by your own transport. We sawed some firewood here near the village. The chairman of village council allowed us, so we sawed a little. I think that it will be enough for the winter. And time will tell us what will happen next.