STORY
The building at 40B/1 Komarova Street was barraged by russian artillery and purposefully hit by a tank shell. Back then, russian troops attempted to enter Kyiv from the Zhytomyr Highway, but were stopped by the Armed Forces of Ukraine and Territorial Defence units.
Serhii, a resident of this apartment block, was one of those who signed into the Territorial Defence units on the very first day of the full-scale invasion. He was on duty at the roadblock when his home was hit. He recalls that his wife and daughter were hiding in the basement, and he was extremely worried about them.
“The second shell hit the building, when I was in the apartment. The fire started. I first rescued my neighbor, who was in a terrible panic, and then we slowly climbed out to the street,” Serhii recalls.
That’s how they started to live in the basement with their neighbors, cooking food together, sleeping together, and desperately trying to find out at least some news. The Onyshchenko family’s apartment was burned into ashes. A sliding-door wardrobe was the only thing that survived the ordeal. Everything else, including furniture, household appliances and even family photos, was destroyed by the fire.
“I went there to take a look at everything I had earned over the last 7 years. Nothing was left. Nothing, but cinder,” Serhii recalls, then adding “but I don’t care, because everything can be restored. Or am I supposed to just give up and sit there crying?”
He shows the destroyed apartment jokingly saying, “here we go, now we have real panoramic windows. We covered the opening with film the best we could to protect the room from the rain. We also cleared the debris as much as we could.”
Now, Oksana and Serhii Onyshchenko, together with their daughter Sofia, rent an apartment in Kyiv. Still, they often visit their home in Myla village to take a look at how it is being repaired step by step. Their most cherished dream is to celebrate the Christmas holidays in their own apartment.
