‘A shell landed at our place. The kid was so frightened that he does not speak now’

Yulia Angelyeva, 30 years old:

In 2015, a shell fell in the middle of our yard. It happened at midnight when we were all asleep. The kid was so frightened that we could not soothe him until the morning. He does not speak after that.

Previously, he did not say a single word. He shut himself up completely. Now, he at least starts trying something like “mommy” and “granny”. If he wants to eat, he asks for it. He speaks only that much. And if he hears some shelling somewhere, he is very scared. He starts crying. He runs to the sofa and hides covering himself with a blanket.

Our windows were shattered. The gate is covered with holes and our house is covered with holes too. All our property was damaged: the summer kitchen and the extension to the house. Nobody was hit, just us. On our street, nobody had any damages, not a single neighbour, not a single window glass was broken. That’s how lucky we are.

Our grandmother used to live in this house alone and then we have moved in and now live together with her.

I don’t have a husband. I am a single mother and I live with my child. It is good that the grandmother gets her pension, so we can live somehow now. After all, the child care money is no longer paid. He turned three years old in July, so I do not get anything. I do not go to work. I cannot imagine my future life. I used to work at our technical school. I was left without a job. What kind of job can there be in this village? Only these stores. But there are many other people looking for a job there. Everyone comes and asks. There are many unemployed people. The whole village is unemployed.

My mother died when I was just finishing school. And four years ago, my grandmother fell and broke her leg. We took her to the hospital. We brought her to Telmanove then. It was before the war. A plaster cast was put on her leg, but then she still could not walk. Well, she can just move a little on crutches. She can come to the living room, but I still help her. And now, in addition, she cannot see.

Grandmother Olena Fedorivna Angelyeva, 85 years old:

I used to be a headstrong woman. I sat in the corridor and one bullet [shell] banged! It landed right here in the yard. And then, the second one, in no time. And I was hit by the blast wave. My legs stopped functioning immediately and my eyes ceased seeing.

A shell hit in the window, and it went further right into the wall. I looked at the clock. It was 12 o’clock sharp. I do not sleep at this time usually. The kid started crying. Yulia brought him to me and I stayed with him like that until the morning. Apparently, his hearing was affected as he could speak previously, but now he cannot say neither “mommy”, nor “daddy”, nor “uncle”.