‘You turn into a person with a sort of moral disability’

We did not know what war means. We could not even imagine what it is as we had never had such fear and never had such horrible feelings in our lives. We are especially sorry for children as their minds have not fully formed yet; children do not understand that something horrible like that could exist. As for us, having seen this, we have re-thought our lives.

Before, not knowing all this, we lived somehow carelessly; everything was different; the world seemed different. But when you see war, feel all these emotions yourself, have these horrible feelings, you seem to become a different person, you turn into a person with a sort of moral disability.

I remember 11th July. It was an evening. We were at home, and suddenly shells from Grad [multiple rocket launcher] started falling. There was a terrible roar. We could not understand why, as it had never happened before. Then, Grad shells were falling in our vegetable garden. Many people were killed on that day when they were in their homes, their flats. There was a case when the entire family was killed. A Grad shell hit our roof, but it was a non-explosive shot. Thank goodness we were lucky. We had a hole left in the roof, and that’s it. 

After our town had been shelled, for two days, we were in shock. It was fear; we could not understand what was going on. All the time we talked with our close ones, our acquaintances about what to do next. Everyone was scared. The day after the shelling, people started to leave the town as, on that day, hostilities in our town continued, though less intensively.

For about two years, we lived in Selydove. Of course, it was difficult. It was difficult as we faced some troubles everywhere. For a certain time, we lived in Kyiv, in Dnipro and in other places. But your soul always longs for home. There are many memories here... here are our closest ones; there are many acquaintances who always supported us in life.

Now, I live with my mum. I have two wonderful kids. My first son will be eight soon, and a daughter, she is only one year old. I dream about my kids growing healthy, happy, without ever seeing a war. We want to forget the war, to forget that fear; to forget and live further and enjoy the life as we used to.

There is no strong and regular shelling now; just some shots being fired from time to time. But of course, we would like not to hear any sounds of bullets or, worse, shells, or some large-calibre guns.