My friend's daughter-in-law called me and said, "If you have a chance, leave the place. Mariinka will be bombed at 10 o'clock. Or prepare the basements to hide."
Overall, we had nowhere to go. So we decided to stay. Of course, it was scary. The attack was severe. We never would have thought we would have to go through something like this. We were very scared.
We stayed in the basement for 3 days, I think. We just went up to take something to eat and rushed to the basement in a hurry. Then we decided we had to leave, so we went to Kurakhove. I have a sister and nephews there. So we went to stay at their place for a while. We abandoned everything: cats, dogs, chickens. We were very scared. I can't tell you how we felt.
We lived there. People started to come back. They still fired, but not that much.
A mine exploded. Fragments mutilated a lot of things. We boarded the windows. And there... A shell exploded at my daughter's place, near the garden. Windows shattered as well. Well, it must have been caused by a blast wave. The third time... Many roofs got damaged. It was so scary. Windows shattered here as well.
The hardest thing was that my husband was very sick at that time. I took him to Zaporizhzhia, to the hospital. We also went to Kurakhove, Novoselivka. We went to every hospital in the area. Doctors told us he needed a surgery. We, he had a surgery. Then the doctor said, "You need MRI, because your grandpa is sick." Well, we went to Kramatorsk and got an MRI. They told me it was pointless. He had cancer, stage 4...
So we came home. He said, "I don't want to go anywhere. I want to stay at home." So we stayed home. Then the war began. I couldn't look at him without tears in my eyes. He sat here on the sofa, and I was here in the kitchen, crying. He asked, "How are you? Are you Ok?"Â
When he died, I stayed by his bed for a long time. I couldn't go out because of the shooting. I stayed by his side all this time. It happened at night. I just wondered how I would bury him. Well, thank God, I managed to do it. There were less firing attacks during the day than it was at night.
The neighbour, 54, also had cancer. He died on 12 March. My husband died on 12 April. They died in the period of one month. Oh, God! The war brought me a double grief. They shot here and there. We were about to celebrate our 50th anniversary. I told him, "Hold on, hold on." And he said, "I can't do it any more. I can't do it any more."
It was so hard. He got sick of his sores. The medicine I buy is never enough. I need to buy new medications. I went to hospital twice this year. I was taken by an ambulance. Well, I had brain vessels problems. It's too expensive to get proper treatment. It is unbearable. I spend UAH 3,000 one medication.
I had some time to think about. I thought and wondered, "Why did it happen? Why did war begin? What did I buy this? Well, what do I really need? We even sold the gold we had. Even, my husband's. Medicines are very expensive. I sold the gold and bought painkillers for the husband.
Sometimes I feel sad when I recall how life was before the war. Who needs all this?
What are we hoping for? I just wish peace would come soon. That is the most important thing. I wish I wouldn't have to worry that I might not get up one day. I wish wouldn't have to worry when and where it would fall.
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