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Voices of war
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‘We prayed aloud all the way,’ says deacon Mykola Serdiuk, describing how his family left their occupied village.

At the beginning of the war, Mykola Serdiuk was with his family in the occupied vil-lage of Havrylivka near Hostomel (Kyiv Region). To leave, they had to sneak through Russian checkpoints at their own risk. They saw columns of Russian tanks, smashed cars in ditches, but with God's help and prayer they made it to safety.

‘One brother perished, the second was barely saved’ — the story of a resident of Zahaltsi

Svitlana Zamitailo lives in the village of Zahaltsi, Kyiv Region. The woman's family lost everything they had: their house and possessions. But the worst thing is that the war took the life of her brother, who was transporting people and humanitarian aid.

‘The Russians killed people with bestial cruelty’

Red Cross volunteer Mykhailo Tulskyi was under occupation in Borodianka and saw with his own eyes the terrible crimes committed by the Russian military against civilians and military personnel. The man is now being treated for PTSD.

‘It was impossible to endure here,’ — a resident of Borodianka

Hanna Shmorhun is a resident of the notorious house at 353 Central Street in Borodianka. She hid in a private home with her neighbors, but it was not safe there either. The Russians bombarded houses with tanks, shot people in the streets, and buried the dead in a ditch.

‘When I was evacuated, I only had a pair of trousers, shoes, a jacket and my documents’

Petro Neshchadym is a pensioner from Moshchun (a village in Kyiv Region). His house was destroyed. Petro hopes that the war will end and he will be healthy enough to build a new house.

What does a military chaplain do, and who needs him?

And what do chebureks [deep-fried turnovers with a filling of ground or minced meat and onions] have to do with it? Lieutenant Colonel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleh Sydorenko recalls the story from the service.

‘Almost my entire family perished’

A resident of Borodianka, Tetiana Bukina, and her relatives were hiding in the basement from Russian bombings. On 1 March, the Russians dropped several air bombs on their house. Unfortunately, the panel ceilings could not hold up and buried the family.

‘The neighbor was still alive and called his granddaughter to get him out from under the rubble,’ — a resident of Borodianka

During the bombing of Borodianka, Mykhailo Kokidko and his son received shell shock. The family barely had time to escape the destroyed burning house. After the evacuation, the man ended up under occupation in the neighboring village of Zahaltsi.

‘I am running away from the war, but it's catching up with me,’ — a resident of Kramatorsk

Svitlana Leonova has been fleeing the war since 2015. At that time, she moved from the temporarily occupied Shakhtarsk to Kramatorsk, but on 24 February 2022, the war came to her home. Now, she lives in a modular town in Borodianka and dreams of returning home most of all.

‘I live in a modular town and weave nets,’ — a resident of Borodianka

On 1 and 2 March 2022, Russian aviation destroyed eight multi-storey residential buildings in Borodianka with powerful FAB-250 aerial bombs. Nadiia Khomich’s house was also destroyed. Now, the woman and her family live in a modular town. She weaves nets for the military, makes trench candles, and does not lose hope.

‘I realisied that it's a kilometre to run through unexploded shells to get to the well...’ — Chronicles of occupied Izium

Vitalii Smazhev spent 100 days with his mother in occupied Izium (a town in Kharkiv Region). He had to dig graves for old people who were dying of cold and get food from destroyed supermarkets.

‘Our evacuation train was shot,’ — memoirs of a film director from Irpin

After ten days of being under shelling, Olha Hdulia left Irpin with one backpack and two cats. Like thousands of city residents, she evacuated across the destroyed Romanivsky Bridge, which is now called the Bridge of Life.

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