‘Look better! Maybe he is alive’

It happened on 22 January 2015. We were at home. Me, Dima, Kostik, Natasha and my son-in-law Volodya.

And then all of a sudden… I remember that I was sitting and then I got up and thick blood was gushing from my right arm. I remember Kostik shouted three times: ‘Dad! Dad! Dad!’ And that was it, I lost my consciousness.

When I regained consciousness, I remember Volodya grabbed Kostik in his arms and was carrying him. I walked slowly holding on to the wall and went out to the annex building. There I lost my consciousness and fell down. The only thing I remember was that Kostik was lying. Soldiers came running and started to examine. One of them said that Kostik was no longer breathing, that he was lifeless. Volodya said: ‘Look better, maybe he is still alive.’ He was told: ‘No.’

Later, when I was in the intensive care unit in Dnipropetrovsk, no one was allowed to see me for three or four days. And then the elder daughter came and said that Kostik had been buried. It’s hard, it is very hard still. This cry, everything before my eyes, it is very hard.

My daughter takes it very hard. She still cannot come to her senses. We thought we might even need to turn to a psychologist. She does not go there, where it all happened. I go there and sometimes Volodya, my son-in-law, goes there. It will take a long time for it to heal up, as they say.

What have we done to deserve this? Why has it happened? I don’t know. I feel sorry for the children. What have they seen? Dima was wounded too. His left arm. He went through a surgery.

The Rinat Akhmetov Foundation fully covered the cost of the treatment for us. He does a very great job. And I believe that he and his team are great men.

We live as if on a powder keg. When shelling occurs, our housing is shaking and rocking. We try not just to hide, but to get together. If a shell hits us suddenly, we should be able to dash out to the cellar as soon as possible, if me make it there. And if not, then to hide somewhere in the house.

We hope that peace will come, God willing. We will get help with restoring our houses, will come back home and will continue living there. We will be keeping up our households, will be planting vegetables and growing trees.