“Belief in our victory and our future is what makes us keep on going and not give up halfway.” Today we will reveal the history of the war through the eyes of Danylo, a student of Zaporizhzhia Polytechnic National University.
Danylo has been interested in the events taking place in the East of our country since 2014: “Most of my relatives live in the Donetsk region. During all these years, I have always tried to explain to my friends, classmates and acquaintances what is really happening and how serious it is. I told about the tragedy of Ilovaisk and Debaltseve, the defense of Donetsk Airport, the de-occupation of Sloviansk and Mariupol, but no one wanted to hear me. Maybe because my peers were actually still children, or maybe because they believed that the war was somewhere far away and it won’t affect them. Unfortunately, my worst guesses have come true.”
The boy went to Donbas to visit his relatives in January and even then felt that something bad might happen: “This was evidenced by strict checks at checkpoints, a large number of Ukrainian defense forces and the mood of local residents. I was annoyed that after returning to Zaporizhzhia, I didn’t see in the eyes and minds of people of a serious attitude to possible danger.”
He recalls the beginning of the full-scale invasion: “The President of the Russian Federation recognized the quasi-formations on the territory of Ukraine as “independent states” on February 22, then everything became clear to me and I began to prepare. First of all, I was preparing morally, because I was very afraid for my city. It may sound weird but panic and even depression I had only the first day of a full-scale invasion.Then, maintaining information hygiene, I analyzed the news, soothed my parents.”
Danylo also volunteered: “My classmates and I collected humanitarian aid for refugees. I looked for and tried to evacuate my relatives from Mariupol and Myrnograd from March to April. We should help whenever possible: someone on the information front, someone financially, someone by volunteering, and someone with at least a human attitude to the surrounding situation.”
The boy doesn’t lose hope and assures that nothing will destroy his faith in our victory: “Currently there are frequent power and water outages in the city, but I treat it completely calmly and with understanding. I fire the furnaces, collect water in buckets and pans and charge phones and other gadgets at Points of Invincibility. Unfortunately, war has become commonplace, but I continue to remind everyone that nothing is over and we should think every day that “I’m alive, I’m now in my hometown, in my intact house”. I know that nothing will destroy my faith in our victory and prevent me from realizing my dream — to watch a match of my favorite team at the Donbas Arena in Donetsk.”
Translator: Bohdana-Nikolietta Terekhina
