What is stuck in my head is the Kyiv-Hostomel-Borodianka (Berestianka) highway. Hostomel. Tortured but unbroken. Even the monument to the Unknown Soldier has bullet holes in it. A ruined church. A burnt tank right in the centre of the town.

Until the 24th of February we used to travel through Hostomel at least two times a month, and each time we would stop in the town centre, visit the market and tiny stores. We were so happy to see how nicely the town was being developed. On Christmas Eve we walked in the new little «Happy» park, in the middle of a spruce grove. A Christmas creche stood there, a pine tree was lit up, everything was wound with happiness.

It’s painful, very painful to see the happiness of Hostomel destroyed, but the world needs to see the tracks left by the ruscists here.

Zhanna, Kyiv