"Ukraine-Russia 2013-2017. Personal stories."

Ordinary people talk about how they survived the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.

“Before Crimea, people were divided for me into two categories: some supported the Maidan, others did not support the Maidan. But both categories were in the field of yellow-blue, all were citizens of Ukraine who either support the protests or say that the protests are bad, not protests in our country. At the same time, the concept of "our country" existed for everyone. With the Crimean events, for the first time in my space, the mood "we want to Russia" appeared. Suddenly, Maidan activists began to be called pro-Ukrainian, and opponents - pro-Russian. At the same time, I completely the family was divided. It felt like an absurd dream. What happened to Crimea and the division of society in Donetsk did not fit in my head. For a long time I did not believe that Crimea was annexed to Russia. It seemed to me that these were not real events, but a fiction in which they were trying to convince me. As if now they will blow out and say: "You are being filmed by a hidden camera." Despite what was happening in the country, my life remained the same as before. My work has not changed, the environment has not changed. That is, you come to work and do from nine to six in the evening exactly the same thing that you always did. This gave the absurd an even greater sense of absurdity. As if you are sitting in the office and you see that summer is outside the window. Then you go out, and there is snow on the street. You think: "Yes, this can not be," you go inside - everything is as it was. You go out again, and it's autumn outside.

This feeling of unreality of what was happening lasted for a long time. In March, armed people began to seize administrations and prosecutor's offices. In the captured building, everything changed at once, and around everyone continued to live their lives. Near the administration there was a playground. Mothers and children continued to play there, even when the building was seized, and cafes worked nearby and people walked along the boulevard.

When dad left for the volunteer battalion, I realized that I couldn't stay in the city. Dad served in another region, by that time it was dangerous for pro-Ukrainian troops to be in the Donetsk region. The zone of influence of the DPR grew. People with weapons walked the streets. They didn’t threaten anyone, they just walked around: you go with a bag, they with machine guns. I was going to move to the western part of Ukraine. I wanted to live where there would be pro-Ukrainian people, where it would not be dangerous to walk with the flag of the country. I took a leave of absence from work and went on a little tour to look around and come back. I wanted to choose a new home, sell an apartment in Donetsk. I didn't move because I had the feeling that a war would start. It just got unsafe. When I was coming back, I took the train in Kiev, drove quietly and got off at the train station in Donetsk. The railroad functioned normally. And at that time in the village of Karlovka, near Donetsk, there were already fights, they were already shooting. My dad participated in these battles - he was killed. For me, the war in Ukraine began with this battle in Karlovka.

After the funeral, I finally decided that I would leave. I went to the ticket office, bought myself a one-way ticket and boarded the train. I had a thousand hryvnias, a suitcase and a laptop in my hands."