Five years ago, a war broke out in Donbass, which claimed 13 thousand lives, redrawn the map of Ukraine and the fate of millions of people. During this time, children have grown up, in whose life there has always been a war, who are able to distinguish the types of shells by the sounds of shelling and who know that the light cannot be turned on in the evening. A new large category of people has appeared - hundreds of thousands of ATO veterans. More than a million people left their homes and became displaced persons. Several million more did not move anywhere, but now they live in completely different conditions.

Oleg from Berdichev is now four. The war in Donbass has continued throughout his life. She took his father four years ago. Alexander Pitel was killed in January 2015 in the battle for Donetsk airport. Four months before the birth of his son.

The widow of the ATO veteran, Yulia Pitel, says that at first she very much restrained her emotions, did not go to the cemetery, did not allow herself to worry, because she was pregnant. "After the birth of my son, it became even worse. Grief, melancholy overwhelmed," - says the woman.

"The son is already four years old, and we tell that dad is not there, but he is. We go to him, to the memorial plaque, to the cemetery. He will grow up and ask how it happened, why. And I will tell you. We will survive this grief. once again, "the woman shares. Julia says that with the death of her husband, the impression came that the war was over: “A happy life has ended. She was divided into“ before ”and“ after. ”But when she came to her senses, she saw that this horror was still going on. “I participate in volunteer projects, meet widows, with the families of the victims. We communicate and experience grief together. We support each other, donate children's clothes. Once they helped us like that,” the woman says.

Before the decree, Julia worked as a geography teacher. Now he is looking for a job and dreams that the war will end and that the parents return to their children. Over the five years of the war in the Donbas, 13 thousand people were killed, another 30 thousand were injured.