Valentyna, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, 17.03.2022

Good day, dear community!

I want to tell you about the one who is acquiring education, Mykola. He is in his third year of university. Today he called me and told me that he went to the Military Commissariat department, as he wanted to go and defend the country, because he has a mother and a younger brother, and he is very worried about them, but they did not take him because he never served in the army. Mykola decided for himself that he can be helpful for his community and signed up for the self-defence [the author means 'Territorial Defence'], he patrols the village with the other guys like him, they check for the looters, so that no strangers are walking around the village, they also check for the drones. These are our young people. Ukraine will win.

But today I went to plant my flowers. The season of working in a field has started. I have to clean up at the irises, tulips, daffodils, and hyacinths after the winter. I have many of them. Bees are flying around, the sun is shining, but somewhere else it’s roaring so loudly, the artillery is working that the heart sinks, and unfortunately, it’s getting closer and closer. Later we heard the sirens. We heard them multiple times during the day. I went to the shelter from my garden. The air-raid siren stopped, and I walked out again. I look around and see that my neighbours on the right and on the left also went out to their gardens. The spring takes its toll. I have to think of my life, about my future. It is impossible to sit in the house.

We talked about the situation. I was asked about my sister-in-law whom no-one has been able to reach, she is in Mariupol. We do not know anything about her, I just pray every day for her to be alive, so that she can see her newborn grandson. My sister-in-law Nadia has not seen him yet, and I wish for her to be here, to pick him up, smile. She was so happy when she found out that she became a grandmother. I wish to wake up in the morning and find out that the war is over. I am asking you to pray for my sister-in-law Nadia, for her liberation, for her to be alive, healthy and could get to us.

Valentyna.