Yuriy and Vitaly Mykhailovych

Юрій та Віталій Михайлович жили у Лисичанську в районі Гумотехнічного заводу (російською місцеві називають цей район РТИ ). Трималися кілька місяців, вірили у те, що війна скоро закінчиться, але врешті-решт змогли виїхати.

Yuri and Vitaliy Mykhailovych lived in Lysychansk in the area of the Humotech factory (locally known as RTI). They held out for several months, believing that the war would end soon, but eventually managed to leave.

“I took my father to the basement at first, then it became difficult. My father had two strokes. So for a while, we slept on the floor,” says Yuri.

“We’re lying there, rockets flying over our heads, listening to the arrivals and departures. We hoped that our troops would quickly push them back,” says Vitaliy Mykhailovych.

Their home was damaged by a blast wave – a neighboring house was directly hit.

Yuri says the most important factor that contributed to the evacuation was the lack of food and medicine.

“Lines for medicine were over a hundred people long, it was impossible to withdraw money, we lived on the cash we had, ate from our own supplies and what we could buy somewhere, and I carried water from a spring every day,” says Yuri.

“We filtered and boiled water, cooked and drank it. But it was difficult with food – I remember how Yuri managed to get two chicken legs from a humanitarian aid center. It was real bliss,” recalls Vitaliy Mykhailovych.

Vitaliy Mykhailovych can’t react calmly to the sound of doors. He’s not used to it, having worked as a miner all his life. He retired in 2011 and suffered two strokes, which paralyzed part of his body.

Yuri worked as a builder but quit his job to take care of his father.

“We left on April 2nd. Yuri came and said, ‘Dad, wake up, we’re leaving in half an hour!’ He put me in a wheelchair, collected our documents, and we headed to the meeting point with our acquaintances who were taking us out,” says Vitaliy Mykhailovych.

In the shelter, they were given a room on the first floor. Vitaliy Mykhailovych listens as the doors close and still can’t get used to the fact that it’s not bombs.