March 10 Mariupol is already drowning in blood. This family was at home with friends without communication, without information, without gas, without electricity. March 3, left home to friends. Their area began to be bombed from hailstones. When the shells flew into the neighboring houses, it became clear that they needed to run. They heard that the city was occupied and it was difficult and very dangerous to leave it. They moved to another area in the hope of being saved, to the center of the city. We thought it was quieter there. We’ve arrived. For the first three days, explosions were heard, but from afar. Then the hell began. A bomber circled over them for the second day. And they hid waiting to see if the bomb would fall on their house or not. Quiet. Silently. The plane is flying. Only explosions are heard. We had breakfast. Her husband Ruslan says that for now, quietly, you need to go to the car and charge your daughters tablets in the evening. And in the same moment, Everything is shaking, the walls are shaking, seconds and Lera understands that this is all. This is the worst thing. An aerial bomb was dropped on them. In a muddy mind, she sees that her daughters are safe, thoughts – where, Husband, mother and little son, …. Ran into the room through the rubble. Numbness. She saw her mother-in-law, she was covered in blood, screaming. She saw her little son, Petya, Lying. On the floor. There is glass, dust, stones and a window frame on it… right on the face. He lies down, eyes closed. Thoughts are everything. Her baby is 7 months old… Tears off the frame from him in agony, he is silent. Shouts to him, wake up son, beloved son, Petya son. Eyes blinked. Alive, alive her boy. All in glasses, in blood, eyes covered with dust and small glasses. She took it in her arms, removed the window frame from her mother-in-law, Her head turned out to be broken. Shouting, calling Ruslan, where is my Ruslan. He understands that if he did not come running to them right away, then something bad happened. Around the ruins, bombers continue to fly overhead, and further they drop bombs. Screams, Ruslan is alive? Where is he? Whole head? (For some reason it seemed to her that it was the head, if the head is intact, then everything else will be fine). I see that they are trying to get Ruslan out from under their car. They lie down on a blanket. He’s skewed. Does not move. She ran up to him, calling him that everything will be fine, that she loves him. He mumbles to leave with the children.
Went down to the basement with the kids. One of the daughters, Sonya, is crying and through the roar of planes flying over them, she hears: Petya, brother, open your eyes, my baby, my beloved, brother. Mom, mom, why are his eyes closed? Mom, did he die? Baby, he’s alive.
He won’t die? My brother doesn’t die of the blast wave, by The police asks Runs along the corridor Ruslan’s full name and year of birth the blast way brother doesn’t die of the blast wave don’t die Petya. I love you…
All this time, she did not know if her baby Petya had any injuries, he fell from a height from the blast was My brother doesn’t die of the blast wave.
In the basement, she found a rag, spit it out and tried to rub her eyes and get the pieces. She put him on a jacket and tried to check if he moves his legs. All this time, planes continued to fly over their heads and bombs continued to fall.
She no longer had the patience to wait, she was worried about her husband Ruslan. They came out of the basement. Everything around is destroyed. I saw a police car, Ruslan was being carried. She ran after him. The whole street is littered, the houses around are burning, the roads are littered with slabs and glass. The streets that were there in the morning just disappeared. She saw this in films about the end of the world. She is barefoot. Petya is on hand. Gets into the car. The girls with their mother-in-law are left to wait for another police car to bring them to them. The police ask Ruslan’s full name and year of birth. Responds and makes a mistake in the month. Ruslan screams that it’s not 9 months, but 10. Relief. He says. So it will live. Thoughts in my head, if only I could live, even in a wheelchair, even without legs, but let Ruslan live.
They drive up to the hospital, they bomb it. Projectiles fly over them. To the sound of hail, he flies into the emergency department and runs to look for a doctor to examine Petya. All Peter’s hat is covered in blood. She was afraid that there were wounds and they needed to be sewn up. Runs along the corridor with it, there is death everywhere. Half alive people lie in the corridor, some on the floor, some on a gurney. Without arms, legs, without part of the head. Someone is crying. Someone is screaming. Finding a doctor was no easy task. But she soon found a doctor.
The doctor examined Petya. Everything is whole. Soft tissues damaged. There are many fragments on the face (now there are scars). Relief. She ran out into the corridor, sees a gurney, her husband Ruslan is taking her away on it. Everything is just as twisted. Fits. Afraid to see the inevitable. There is a doctor nearby, I hear that Ruslan answers that he can move his legs, but not his arm. Calms down a little. He screams in pursuit that he loves him and is waiting. He is unhappy, and gritting his teeth says go to the children. Her eldest daughters and mother-in-law run through the door… Ruslan is taken to the operating room. THAT WAS THE LAST TIME THAT SHE SAW HIM…
They sit on the floor in the hallway. The mother-in-law oozes blood from her head, she slides down the wall… She calls for help, which is bad, help.
They took her. Sew the head and hand. Suitable man. In the shape of. I see the Ministry of Emergency Situations on the shoulder. He asks to go to the 2nd floor, and there in the passage of the corridor you can expect. So that the children do not see this whole meat grinder. It turns out, goes to where the mother-in-law is sewing, says that they will be on the 2nd floor.
They come in. Dark, very cold hospital corridor. There are mattresses on both sides of the walls. There are people on them. Finds a bench, sit down. Around them are the wounded. Someone prays, someone talks about the war. The mother-in-law came. She was sewn up. Wants to know how Ruslan. He goes down to the reception. There the doctor explains how to get her to the operating block. “-Across the transition, run at a run and duck down, there are selling.” Goes. Transition. Reminds me of this transition. They went there, to that hospital, a couple of years ago. She, Ruslan and Sofia. There he received one of the best ENT doctors in the city. Memories… There are no windows. She runs on glass at sixty, sat on the cold floor. Runs in. There is chaos. They didn’t let her in. – “Girl, get out, there are wounded people, go away, don’t interfere.” The door closes. It turns out. Runs through the transition. They’re bombing. But she is no longer afraid. It wasn’t scary anymore.
In the evening, the mother-in-law found out that Ruslan had undergone an operation and he was in another building. They were waiting for the morning to see him. But anxiety ate from within.
Airplanes bombed the hospital all night. The operating block was completely destroyed. they sat on the cold floor. In jackets, hats, but it was so cold that it seemed to freeze the bones inside. They sat against the wall, leaning against each other. She clearly remembers how she told the girls to put on hats and hoods, then for some reason it seemed to her that it was necessary. The children were scared. They hit right on them. The walls shook. And another blow – glass fell down in the corridor, another blow and windows flew out in the offices behind them, along with walls and fittings. One of the girls asked her then, “Mom, are we going to die now?” she replied, “I don’t know dear…. I don’t know. ” She was no longer scared. She then asked God to take them all at once. So that no one suffers. So as not to fall asleep with slabs. To not die in agony. WHAT if they left, then together. She was afraid that the children would die, but she would survive.
Artist Elena Bandurka 