Our house has been hiding in semi-darkness for more than a year, with wooden boards on the windows. This is some kind of protection from fragments, because there is a front line nearby and explosions can be heard here all the time. Maiorsk is three kilometres away, and Zaitseve is five kilometers away. Sometimes we can hear or see it fly past us.

In 2014, the youngest son Ilya barely managed to run home when the shelling started. He still shudders from loud sounds. A car passed through, and then the bridge exploded. No one expected it.

Living in such an environment for two years can become ordinary. Daughters Nastya and Lena often bring goats to the pasture. Every time an attack happens, the goats give less milk. We plant vegetables to feed ourselves. We have no money for food. We spend every hryvnia on the treatment of my wife Viktoriia.

She has cancer. Doctors removed her thyroid, but cancer cells remained. Now she urgently needs iodine therapy. I work at the mine every day to raise the money for this expensive procedure. This is the only company that still operates in the village. However, it will soon be closed. They have already announced that there will be a layoff, and maybe even a termination. This is a disaster.