Our volunteers very often communicate with various people: soldiers, doctors, and residents of de-occupied territories. The stories they tell motivate us to do everything possible to bring victory closer. And we would like to share them with you, which is why today we are starting a new project, “Stories of War”.
Today’s first story is from Roman. He is an IDP from the de-occupied territory of the Kharkiv region. Roman has a wife and a 14-year-old daughter. A resident of the village Kupyansk-Vozlovy. Energy engineer at Ukrzaliznytsia. Evacuated on October 4th to Kharkiv.
The war and occupation for Roman and his family began with cluster bombardments, spending the night in a neighbor’s chicken coop, and shooting neighbors. From March 7, a bomb shelter was organized at the local station (place of work), where he was not only able to take shelter until April with his family but also supervised the shelter itself.
Roman recalls that since June, the occupiers began to promote their new idea: to catch criminals, take them to the police station, and arrange interrogations. A curfew was created for the chosen ones: businessmen were allowed to walk after 8:00 p.m., while ordinary people were stopped, photographed, fingerprinted, followed, followed, and checked where they lived.
Roman spoke very sadly about how the war affected his daughter: “At first she had everything, then everything was taken away. Now she has a fear of losing what she has again. She no longer looks like a child, but like an adult. She is not interested in drawing. She stores food for herself.”
Roman is currently in Kharkiv, in a dormitory for IDPs. “We are warm. It’s quiet here. There is food, everything is enough. Now we are trying to do at least something for our military. At least the same trench candles.” Roman, together with the residents of the dormitory, makes trench candles. The first batch of 500 pcs was already sent. There are currently about 1,000 ready to ship. “At first, I wanted to do it only with my wife, but then we involved more people. They took the initiative on the floor: some cut cardboard, others twist, and still others pour paraffin.”
