Dear World Community,
America, France, Czech Republic, Slovakia...everyone.
Please HEAR us, we are the citizens of Zaitsevo.
We are ALIVE here, they didn't kill us.
They say that our town is dead, but look we have children living here.
This isn't all of them, the younger ones are asleep after a sleepless night.
Last night we were heavily shelled by the Ukranian Army. VERY heavily shelled.
We beg you all, everyone who can, please HELP US.
STOP THE SHELLING!
We have no lives, our children have no lives.
We cannot live peacefully, study peacefully, work peacefully.
Help you if you can.
Please tell people what is happening here, tell them that we are ordinally peaceful civilians
We are not some sort of separatists
We are ORDINARY people.
We have nowhere to go, we live in our homes.
Stop driving us out of our homes!
Thos of you that can, please , help us!
We don't know what else to do or who to turn to.
Please, help us.
For as long as this war has been going on, we have had military action in our town.
Two and half years of military action!
In this time WW2 was almost finished!
But here the war is going on, and on, and on.
We haven't had a day of ceasefire despite the Minsk agreement.
The shelling stops periodically, 2-3 days of quite and then it starts again, with more intensity than previously.
We know that if today is quite than tomorrow it's going to start with more intensity.
That tomorrow we are going to get rained on by 120s! [120 mm iron incendiary shell]
For God's sake, our children already know the names of all the artillery we are fired with!
Before our children played with toys, we played with toys, and now they play with bullets!
And with shell shards.
What is this, how much longer can this go on?!
The children play with pieces of the artillery, shells, and bullets.
My little grand-daughter said "Look what I have granny, bullets!"
That's not right.
They also say that these gatherings are fake, that we are some actors they gathered and brought here...
In that case, let me take you to my house, let me show you where I live
And I will show you the holes in my garden!
I will show you the destroyed houses! My neighbour's house was destroyed, a 4x4 hole in the roof!
It's not right!
We cannot live, our children live in cellars for over a year.
We all live here, we didn't run anywhere. We are alive.
They say that we are brought here for show, just to film us.
This is not true!
My house is just 100 meters from the school.
And my house is just over there, down the road.
I can take you there.
You can hear the shelling starting over there.
Until 5pm it's quite enough, but after 5pm, that's it!
It's impossible to live.
And in the morning it was crazy!
Quarter to 6 the shelling began!
And last night at 12.55 there was 9 hits! I turned on my alarm and it said 12.55!
The shelling was very heavy, not light fire, but very heavy artillery fire!
They were firing from big cannons! Huge!
It's a good thing you came, but action needs to be taken quickly. We simply don't have time. Even today, you are risking your life, we are risking our lives.
The bullets are this big! It's crazy!
After noon is no longer safe to be outdoors.
Talk to the children.
They will tell you whats happening.
You don't have to listen to us, we are adults, but these are kids.
Tell the man what you want.
Please make the shooting stop, there's no peace and I cannot ride my bike.
Come on Masha, tell the man and the lady what you want.
We want the shooting to stop....we want peace...and for us to no longer be bombed.
I..I..I want the bombs to no longer be in my garden.
And i want the houses to not be destroyed.
You know, I want this too!
And to stop finding shards in the stawberries in the garden!
And to collect apples from the garden
I want to run around in the garden....
Sasha!
As the shooting stops, you forget about the war, and when it starts again, your spirit falls and you don't want to live anymore.
This is an unacknowledged war, our children are living in an unacknowledged war.
In west Ukraine not a single child has died.
What is the mental state of our children today?
How many children have died here. We have a wall of remembrance; 1.5-year-old, 7-months-old, 2-year-old, 5-year-old, 4-year-old. It's unthinkable!
These are OUR children dying! And for what?!
Tell us!
The door shuts and they jump.
In school, the door bangs and that's it! They jump up and drop their pens!
Can you imagine this!
Is this not genocide!
In the west (of Ukraine) not a single child dies, everything is peaceful and quite there.
So why are our children dying?
Help us!
Even if they don't recognise us (as citizens) why don't they sit down and talk with anyone.
All that is happening is destruction and eradication of the people.
I am telling you, we are from Zaitcevo, and we are alive, we live in cellars but we are alive.
Help us, who can!
Anything at all, even with information.
Stop the shelling, start talking. Sit down and come to some agreement! It's time to stop.
This has been going on since 2014! Please help in any way you can!
Hear us!
Kids, come on lets ask for help all together.
PLEASE, HELP US!
We are alive and we need help.
WE WANT TO LIVE! 1-2-3 WE WANT TO LIVE!
Please... Please... Please