When recalling the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Oksana Matiash cries. Her house, her workplace — the House of Culture where she is the head — were damaged by shelling. The woman suffered a concussion during the shelling. She still suffers from headaches.

In March 2022 most of the residents left the village, but Oksana’s family hesitated. "But on March 18 such heavy shelling began that we could not leave the cellar for a whole day. And when we finally came out, our children arrived by car and took us away," recalls Mrs. Oksana.  

The family moved to a neighboring settlement, but Oksana and her husband used to come home for a few hours. They worked around the household! But one day they came under fire. "I was standing in the house behind three doors. All the doors opened! And by that blast wave I was thrown back," the woman recalls the moment of the explosion.

But most of all, Oksana is sure, the refugees from neighboring settlements of Chernihiv region suffered. "People were running with little children, some only 4 months old. A mother holds that baby tightly to herself. We ask her: ‘Let’s put the baby down, because your arms hurt!’ And she cannot let go of her child," says Mrs. Oksana.