My name is Denys. I am 18 years old, and I am from Sumy. My mom worked as college teacher. My
father is currently serving in the territorial defense. I have a sister who is in the 6th grade.
The first day of the war in Sumy: I was in the 11th grade, and I had to go to school. But it wasn’t my
alarm clock that woke me up. My father woke me up at 5 a.m. and said: on." For the last week there
had been loud rumors that the war would start, but few people believed it. Despite this, I had a
premonition that something bad was going to happen, and it did.
My parents were going to go to the store to get groceries, but the shelves were already half-empty, and
all the stores had huge lines. They left for the village, and I stayed home with my younger sister. It was
horrible. It's hard to describe how we felt then. The first months of the war were terrible.
Every night we sat in the basement and heard the loud sounds of rockets. I lived at the city limits and
could see Russian tanks passing by. The windows and walls shook. Later our city was abandoned
[original unclear], but since it was close to the border, the rockets were still flying.
There was no food in the stores, constant blackouts and water cuts, it was torture.
My grandmother is from the hero-city of Akhtyrka. Things were even worse there. She lived near the
train station, which is now unfortunately gone. We visited her and the whole roof was covered in
shrapnel from shells. Plaster sprinkled down from the ceilings, especially in the room where I slept.
My grandmother is fine, but it was very stressful for her, like it was for all of us.
Now I am in Poland. In June 2022 I decided to study management at a Polish university. Sometimes my
Mom and sister come to visit me. That makes me very happy because I miss them terribly and I love
them very much. I want them to be safe. I am very scared for my relatives and friends.
I am very grateful to God that our country is getting help. I am also very happy that many families have
been saved, and I hope and believe that our country will win the war and we will live in peace. No one
deserves to go through what our nation has gone through.
