This is Nikita. He is 5 years old. On February 24, he, like everyone else, woke up to the sounds of explosions. Without delaying a moment, Nikita, together with his mother, grandmother and grandfather, gathered the basic necessary things and left the city. At first, Nikita and his family were very confused and did not know where to go, just away. But later they decided that it was possible to hide in the country house of friends in a small unknown village near Pryluky.
It was quiet and sunny for two days. It seemed as if there was no war. But on the third day at five o’clock in the morning, everyone in the house woke up from a loud roar. Looking out the window, Nikita’s mother saw military equipment, about two hundred units of tanks, armored personnel carriers, anti-aircraft guns and others. It was not Ukrainian equipment.
Nikita and his family spent the next 10 days hiding from explosions and shells flying over the roof in a cold cellar. Nikita got a cold. On the fourth day, the Russians attacked the electric power utility. Nikita’s family was left without electricity, water and communication for more than a week. On March 8, when the Russian troops moved away from the village and the road was cleared of mines, Nikita and his family gathered in half an hour and went to the west of Ukraine, making a stop in Cherkasy. The next day was a long drive to relatives in Kolomyia. Nikita stayed there for two months. He got to know the local children, taught them to play “blockpost”, because on the way to Kolomyia I saw them every half an hour.
Now, after a long journey, Nikita is in America with his mother and grandmother. He helps draw posters in support of Ukraine, makes candles for fundraising and really wants to go back home, to his native Sumy, to his father and grandfather, who stayed to defend our country. Therefore, Nikita is doing everything possible to accelerate the victory of Ukraine and to collect funds to help our military and their families affected by Russia and return to a peaceful, free Ukraine as soon as possible.
