I have been working at the school for the past 20 years, the director is only the fourth year. I am more here than at home. There are no relatives in Trisvyatska Sloboda, but this is my second home, I will say this.
On February 22, I submit lists for external independent evaluation. It was a little strange that on February 28 I received a phone call from the Kyiv Education Quality Center and was asked to submit some other documents. I am talking on the phone, against the background of the conversation I will arrive. I ask them: "Do you understand that this is physically impossible now?" In Kyiv, the hostilities on February 28 were only seen on television.
No one was preparing for this. The suitcase was folded only on the first day of the invasion. I haven't heard anything since four in the morning, no explosions, nothing. I turn on the TV and understand that all channels are the same. I woke up my wife, I give her this information.
I arrived at school somewhere around seven in the morning, I left here almost at seven in the evening. When I was driving, there were already huge queues at gas stations, traffic jams. Friday morning ‒back to work. From that day, he was away from work for 40 days. Of course, I took people out in my car, many things were done here, the wounded and, unfortunately, the dead were transported. Sometimes he came to see the houses, his parents' house.
When he said to his wife: "I'm sorry, but I have to be here", she called a few hours later and said: "Then I'm going to 21 schools and I'll volunteer there, prepare food for the military". She went there with people close to us. She was in 21 schools by the time of the explosion.
Her brother called (March 3, 2022). He said that he had arrived at school. For some reason, his words, so I remember, he says: "Everything is fine". I say: "How can everything be normal? How is Vita (this is my wife), Ira, how is Vadyusha small?" I hear something wrong from my voice. "Tell the truth what's there", ‒ insist. He says, "Ira is gone (this is his wife). Vita, her ambulance took her away, they don't know if she will survive or not. My legs were broken, I'm just conscious. Everything is fine with the little one".
Somewhere, maybe for 20 minutes, I was just sitting in a stupor. I remember going upstairs, into the classroom, sitting down. It was difficult. After all, then he got into the car, drove away. I saw my mother and sister alive, of course, scared. He got to the hospital. The doctor said that the wife is heavy, I still won't talk to her, because she hasn't regained consciousness yet. The only thing I didn't know was what to do with my nephew, because the child was left alone. Then he was taken here. The next day, one family of our acquaintances drove cars to the western one and took the little one, this Vadim, with his legs bandaged.
The wife survived. There was relief, you know, when I saw that she had regained consciousness. Then he took his mother and sister here.
Then we immediately organized the educational process. There was a distance walk for two days, but it was just according to the documents, from Monday together with the head of the village council, the education department, we decided to postpone the vacation. No one knew that it would drag on to this day. Everyone thought it was a week or two, something was going to be scared there and that's it. We dealt with the educational process. Somewhere at lunchtime on Friday, I see some strangers for me got out of the car with mattresses, with bags and going into the case.
I went out, I ask: "Who are you, what do you need?" And they say that they know that the school has a basement, they want to stay there. What thoughts were there? Well, they will stay for a few hours, calm down and go back. On the same day, two more families arrived. I think that I somehow spend the first night with them, and then it will be visible. But this first night lasted until February 28. On that day, a specific shelling was in Kiinka.
That room cannot be called a shelter. It's semi-tsocal, semi-basement, but for some reason people thought it was a safety island, that they would be safe here. Up to a hundred people gathered at the school.
People were of different ages. There were children who learned to walk, there were already elderly people who needed care. Literally in a few days, they organized a comfortable stay here for the day. My shelter was heated. There was two hot meals. Groups of people were created, where each was responsible for the organization of life: one group cleaned bathrooms, another room, engaged in firewood, the third ‒ food.
There were those who came, spent the night and went either abroad or to western Ukraine. I definitely helped take out about 15 families.
In the basement at school, almost 90% of people fell ill. When he was going to see his wife in the hospital, he went to the chief doctor. I told who I am, that I have a hundred people, I need medicine. I gave two boxes of medicines, listened. Insulin was handed over by volunteers from Kyiv. The woman, one might say, was saved.
There was a situation when we got to the crossing, there was an arrival, the car was overturned three times. Thanks to the military, the car was pulled out and we were taken to the hospital. Then I had a broken collarbone, and a friend had a knee.
Speaking in my personal life after these events, I will say this: the relationship with my wife has changed a lot. They became more open. I analyzed the time after the full-scale invasion, realized that we simply do not pay attention to any small thing. They began to appreciate life, their relationships.
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