Me: Now I'm on the way to the airport. It is a very hard day here in Donetsk. The atmosphere is .. it is just scary.
It is very quiet here. There are no people, nowhere. There is just no one in the streets, because there are rumors, that the Ukrainian army will be advancing soon.
There have even been warnings for civilians to stay at home, so I don't see anyone.
Fighter: How is it correct to say your name?
Me: It's okay to say Grisha, the Russian way. It is Graham in English, Grisha in Russian.
Fighter: Grigori. As Rasputin. Have you heard about him?
Me: I've heard.
Fighter: The previous time I was here it was still okay.
Me: Yes, it's a bit different now..
Fighter: Graham, will you go with me? I will show you where I was with Maloy, where we got wounded.
Me: Yes, I will come. Will we go to the terminal?
Fighter: Donetsk airport.
Fighter: This partisan girl has been fighting with us from the beginning.
Me: Masha, can you introduce yourself? Maria..
Masha: What-what?
Me: Can you introduce yourself? Name, where from..
Masha: Yes. My name is Maria. I am from the good city of Zuhres (Donetsk region).
Me: How old are you?
Masha: 17 years old.
Me: Now, Masha, you're at the front line. There is war here..
Masha: I've just gotten fully 'lost'. The guys sent me here and told to sit. Gave me the gun and asked me not to lose it. Normally I just fill in some papers at the headquarters.
Me: When did you decide to become a fighter in the militia?
Masha: I can't just sit still and look how civilians are being killed. So I decided to help our brothers at least with something.
Fighter: To help our parents, our children..
Masha: If someone has children, then to help the children. So that all parents live in peace.
So that they don't suffer from aviation attacks and shelling. So that small children don't say when there's shelling: "Mama bang, papa bang". What to do?
Me: Masha, you're not just in the militia. You're in one of the hottest places at the front line. Why have you decided to be exactly here?
Fighter: Let me help you a bit. Can I?
Masha was initially here, on these positions that we're holding now.
Her boyfriend died here. Her father died here.
And she came back here again to hold all this.
It is painful for us to remember how her boyfriend and her father died here. We will avenge.
Surely. Not a single Ukrop will pass here. Believe me.
We will all die, but the Ukrop will not pass here. To the honour and memory of these good people.
Masha: We have gone too far to step back. No one here has a reverse gear. Only forward. Just give us the order and all of us will.. Yes, we will go and get them all.
Fighter: Because no one trusts in this ceasefire. Masha, do you trust in it?
And we also don't trust. Give us the order!
Fighter: No one, not a single person believes in this ceasefire of theirs. They're making a full redeployment. Graham, full redeployment. They've just been shelling.
Masha: What were you asking?
Me: About your boyfriend and father. What happened?
Masha: My boyfriend with the nickname Yalta was leading a group of people here. It was his last fight. He was killed on September 30th.
Fighter: I will show where. It happened in front of my eyes.
Masha: We will show where it happened. He was shot from a BTR.
My father died because of the fragments, from the tank.
Fighter: He went out with a RPG against the tank, it was in front of my eyes. The tank shot and he was wounded by fragment in his neck.
We dragged him away and he didn't survive.
Masha: His neck was hacked almost to the spine.
And to all Ukrop-fags I want to say. I will personally not leave a single one of them alive.
I personally promise: not a single one. I will avenge everybody. So many our guys have died here.. For all of them.
For my loved one and for my father. And for all our brothers who died here.
Me: What did you do before the war, Masha?
Masha: Lived in a normal peaceful way. Worked, studied.
Fighter: Tell about your peaceful profession. She is an architect.
Masha: I study in Construction-Architectural. Haven't graduated yet.
Me: In which city?
Masha: In Donetsk.
Me: Are you 17?
Masha: Yes, I am 17.
Fighters: And I am 43. And I am also 17. And I am 40. And that guy is 18. I am 26.
I am also a builder. A waiter. I am arch welder, adjuster of forged figures.
Don't come to our land. We're protecting our land. Our piece of land, our own dear one.
It is our land. We were born here, we have lived here and will live. This land raised us, it gave life to us.
Leave this land to us. Our ancestors were living here. We're Russian.
Me: Masha, how do you feeling after what has happened, after you've lost your boyfriend and father?
Masha: Not the best feelings. But it will not break me. I will be going forward to the end.
Also I want to say hello to everyone that knows me. I love everyone very much. Especially to my mama. And my second mama - Yalta's mother Valentina Alekseevna.
I love them very much. And will come visit soon.
Me: What will you eat now?
Fighters: Potato, fried potato. French Fries.
And canned meat!
Me: Is it good?
Fighter: Just great!
The potatoes belong to someone else, don't touch them.
I don't know whose potato it is, but I will dig into it.
Fighter: Hey, hey, not that fast!
Fighter: Guys, do you hear the ceasefire?
Me: Yes, it is hard already.
Fighter: There is constant fire.
From there to there. Here, just now a 100 has worked again.
D-30, 150th, 200th mortars are working.