UNDERSTANDING OF THE WAR

‘For me, the war means…’

It is a complete change of my life at the moment.

When did the war in Donbass begin for you?

The war in Donbass was a continuation of what happened previously. It was the war in Crimea. That is why for me it began even earlier.

What did you talk about with your family and neighbours during active hostilities?

I didn’t communicate much with my neighbours because my neighbours and I had slightly different views. And as for my friends and acquaintances (my acquaintances were mostly people who thought the same way as I did), everyone was confused, was in a depressed mood because the events were developing absolutely not the way we expected.

What do you remember the most from the experience of the war you went through?

I remember my shock when I read on the Internet that a mine landed near my house. It was on 19 August 2014.

I saw some mine fragments scattered around. Pieces of broken glass were everywhere. Window frames were deformed. That’s how the city looked like. Some of the buildings that were hit by Grad rocket launchers were almost completely destroyed, while in other buildings shells hit just one floor.

A mortar bomb of 82 mm calibre landed near my house, which was seen from the crater. Unfortunately, we could not record a video back then as we were not allowed to. It was just not safe. We spent several days there, when the windows were shattered, when literally some two-three meters away from you was the road along which the tanks were going. It seemed that they were just running over you. Surely, the feeling was far not the most pleasant one, to be honest.

How has it changed your life?

I won’t say that this has changed my life because the changes happened earlier, before that. Not only in my life, but in many people’s lives. I heard people [telling] that they had a nightmare when they slept and then they would wake up and everything would be back to normal again.

Do you plan to return home when the war is over?

Unlikely. Seven years have passed since then, it is now the eighth year. From time to time, I go to the non-government control territory and see what life is like there. I can hardly imagine how I would return there. In general, it is believed that if a person has lived in one place for more than five years, after that they are unlikely to return to what was in their past, they have taken root. Another question is what kind of root? Yet, it is unlikely that I would return there.

CHANGES IN THE RESINDENT’S LIFE. VALUES

What changes has the war brought into your life?

I began to rely more on myself probably as I realized that everything related to the state or someone else would hardly support me. I received support only from my friends and relatives. I lived at their place for the first two years before going to Kyiv. There is no one to expect help and support from. So, it is only a reliance on your own resources, on yourself.

Tell us please how the war affected your everyday life (access to water, food, possibility to move freely, security, financial condition, etc.)

It had only a negative effect. I lost my home. For many years, I didn’t even have the right to vote. For now, thank God, it has been returned to me. Speaking of everyday life: I cannot bring things that I would like to because I realize at once that they would have to be transported somewhere. And how could I do that? Speaking about earnings – it’s the same as about the jobs... I worked as a teacher at the university, but then I had a break due to various reasons. Now I cannot resume my work as a teacher because there are no vacant positions. There is a reduction underway. That is why the opportunity to earn some money has narrowed sharply. Seven years have passed and I have not grown younger over this period. So, my prospects for the future are far not the promising ones. Nevertheless, no matter how it is, my life goes on and I need to look for some positive sides of it.

What positive features do you find?

Some positive points solely in myself and in people that surround me, purely internal resources.

Do you feel safe now?

I don’t feel safe even in Kyiv because I don’t have any certainty about my tomorrow.

I can find myself in the street tomorrow and can lose my source of earning that I have now. It is a complete uncertainty and absence of any support from the state in the first turn, although it must address this.

What do you dream about?

Dreams should immediately turn into projects. Of course, about a housing, in the first place. I am working on it. A housing means really a lot for a person. That is why if I have it, other questions will be solved easier and will be perceived in a more positive way. Projects are a concept that we drafted. We entered a working group at the Human Rights Committee of the Verkhovna Rada. They have presented it as a draft Law. It is called “On compensation for housing property to IDPs”.

Do you have any items that are connected with the events you experienced?

To be honest, no, I don’t. I don’t really want to keep such items. For example, I did not want to keep shell fragments that were scattered near my kitchen. One of them even got stuck in the ceiling. I am a historian myself, so, naturally, I understand the importance of everything. I would like to collect some materials, but when you leave the territory of “LPR”, you cannot really take some artifacts with you because you can run into some unnecessary questions at the contact line, at the checkpoints.