Maryinka. The locals who haven’t left the town are trying to survive.

There are not too many options left for them. The war is scattering mines and shells. After yet another shelling, people come out of their basements and start fixing their roofs, windows and cutting the fallen trees to get some firewood.

The Grigoryevs family experienced shelling several times. There was a rocket explosion not far from their house covering their gates and window frames with small holes. There were more mines explosions and shell hits in their backyard afterwards. However, the Grigoryevs are not planning to escape. They have nowhere to go. Their home is here and it feels so good here in the summer. It is quite cold in winter at home because the gas supply in the town had been damaged many months ago. There is a wood-burning stove in one room, whereas water is freezing in the other room. The only thing which is calming, is that the winter will not last forever, just like war.

The 12-year-old boy Daniil finds it the most difficult to survive in these circumstances. Due to the heart problems, he lives with a cardiostimulator. There shouldn’t be any strong electric appliances in the house, and, of course, he shouldn’t live under stress. Unfortunately, there is no way to escape from stress when you live at war. He doesn’t have to experience extreme cold or heat either.  That’s why Daniil and his mother were so happy when they received the hard-fuel boiler and when it was installed into their heating system. The donors also brought 9 cubical meters of firewood, cut it and put it under the fence roof.

Do you know what it means to be warm? You don’t have to sit by the wood-burning stove all the time. All family member don’t have to crowd in the only warm room any more. The heating is finally on! The radiators are now warm in all rooms. You can sit in the sitting room or go to the bedroom if you want. You can have a cup of hot tea in the warm kitchen and it becomes the biggest event in the 2,5 years of war! It feels like a turning point! These people are so tired of war and freezing cold. They all want to live a normal life even though they are living in a frontline town. At least they can live in warmth now.

 — We want to thank the Catholic Christians for his hard-fuel boiler, says the husband, Mikhail Grigoryev, – We would never be able to afford to buy one. We are unemployed and have no money. And the firewood they brought us in the framework of “Pope for Ukraine” initiative in addition to the boiler, will be enough for this winter and for the next one too. We thank you from the deep of our hearts!

Lidiya Vasylyevna Dobrynina lives in Maryinka with her daughter and a grandson. They live in a big house, and they have no man to care for them and protect them from the consequences of war. There is no one to cover up windows after shelling, to build a furnace or to cut some firewood.

— I need to hire someone for any difficult work, – shares the woman. – How can we get warm without a furnace? Even if I find and pay the stovemaker to make a furnace for us, I still need to buy bricks and clay, then a grate bar and a hatch. I also need to buy firewood and coal. And all of this costs enormous money for us living off my pension. Before the war, we were able to save some money to keep our house in order. And now… We don’t have enough money even for food and heating. We would never be able to afford a boiler that we received under“Pope for Ukraine” Initiative. And here they brought us the boiler and firewood! They cut it and piled it up for us. Now we are not afraid of cold any more. Every time I approach our warm heating radiators, tears start running down my face. Thank you, kind and generous people. May the Lord bless you with good health!