Articles

Teacher Alina Veshchuk lived in Horlivka (Donetsk Region) until 2015. Then she fled the occupation to Kramatorsk. In 2022, history repeated itself again... She says that back in 2014 she already understood how the enemy was fighting: “Friends saw “Grad” (multiple rocket launcher) drove into the field, shoot at Toretsk, where the Ukrainian army was, then this “Grad” turned around and shot then back at Horlivka: the enemy wanted people in Horlivka to think that it was Ukrainian army shot back at them”.

Maksym Vainer worked in an international team engaged in medical evacuation in the Bakhmut area. They were trying to evacuate a woman wounded after a shelling when a Russian missile hit their car. Maksym received numerous injuries, and his partner, an American medical volunteer, Pete Reed, died.

Nataliia Frolova has two native cities: Berdiansk, where she was born and raised her daughter, and Kharkiv, where she had moved a few years before the full-scale war. Both cities suffered at the hands of the enemy.

Liudmyla Lomeiko, a resident of Moshun (village in Kyiv Region), used to transmit the coordinates of the enemy to her son, who is serving now in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, during the first days of the full-scale war. She prayed for the trees she had planted with her own hands to resist.

A resident from Kherson tells how the city lived during the first days of the Russian occupation.

Pensioner Mykola Perepelytsia lives in Krasnopillia (Donetsk Region). His village has been subjected to numerous airstrikes. He says: “An aircraft came every morning, smashing houses and tearing down roofs”.

An architect and artist Halyna Bulhakova left everything in Kharkiv: an apartment, paintings — ready for the exhibition, half-ruined Saltivka houses, which she once designed. The artist came to Lviv only with her grandson.

A resident of Borodianka, Valentyna Torhonska, was hiding with other people in the basement when a shell exploded near her house. In her declining years, she is homeless and doesn’t know how to continue her life.

Olena’s mother died in Izium from anorexia. She could not leave the occupied territory despite numerous evacuation attempts. The lack of treatment and the indifferent attitude of the invaders and collaborators killed an aged woman.

When the war began, servicewoman Valeriia Krokis was eight months pregnant. She managed to escape the occupation, gave birth to her child in Lviv, and was reunited with her husband, who had been wounded at the frontine.

We met with Halyna Khoroshchak in her apartment in Borodianka, which was destroyed by air strikes. With tears in her eyes, the woman spoke about how the Russians dropped bombs on residential buildings, shot civilians, and looted.

Blooming and beautiful — with these words, Liudmyla Halaka describes Borodianka. However, neither the beauty nor the amenities that struck the Russian occupiers prevented them from destroying not only the village but also human lives.

Ninel Chernyshenko, a resident of Borodianka, saw with her own eyes how Russian planes deliberately dropped bombs on peaceful houses. Yet, against all odds, she believes in victory, peace, and the restoration of Ukraine.

Vira Tiata worked as a kindergarten teacher for 48 years. Even in the worst nightmare, she could not imagine that Russian invaders would destroy everything she had acquired.

Taras Viychuk interviews Kyrylo Kutsenko from Rubizhne. He witnessed the battles for Rubizhne twice. In 2014, the city stood up. In 2022, Russians completely destroyed it.

Natalia Shtepa left Rubizhne on March 26, 2022. She hid from the shelling with her neighbors in a cramped unfurnished basement. She says she slept sitting up for 17 nights.

A resident of the Moshchun village in the Kyiv region tells about the horrors of the first days of the full-scale war.

Svitlana Holovata’s house in Moshchun was destroyed. Everything burned down: the beds, wardrobes, all wooden furniture, and TV. She said she felt like there was nothing there before.

Volodymyr Zaika is a resident of the village of Moshchun, Kyiv region. He says that only 5% of the houses in Moshchun remained intact.

Mykola Kostenko lives on Lisna Street in Moshchun village, Kyiv Region. In March 2022, it was absolute hell living in these parts.

Kharkiv resident Nadiya Bratashevska recalls living with her husband in the basement for two months: “As you go for humanitarian aid, you keep praying to God. Then, you press against the wall until the shell flies by or explodes.”

As a result of the airstrike, Iryna’s husband and a two-year-old son were injured. Their apartment was destroyed. But she wants to live in Borodianka and hopes to earn money for new housing.

Despite the persuasions of the children, a couple of pensioners from Borodianka refused to evacuate. They survived the air raids and saw the helicopters flying low overhead. Then, one day, Russians broke into their yard and began an interrogation.

“I couldn’t leave my dog,” says Nataliia from Borodianka. One day, eight Russian soldiers entered their house and began looking for the “Nazis”. According to Nataliia, they did not understand that no one was expecting such “liberators”.