I was 10 when the war started. In the spring of 2014, strange people started appearing in my hometown and in the region. They started promoting the idea of independence from Kyiv. They said that there had been a military coup there and that we would face the same danger of being killed for speaking Russian.

We have everything to make our city and our country better. Because we know how to think and how to do things. The difference is that the initiative comes from below, here it's us who's evolving, while in Crimea the initiative comes from above, from the state, making people passive.

The decision to leave was a hard one for me because there were a lot of children in the bomb shelter, and a lot of people who were frightened. Patrick, as a psychologist dog and anti-stress dog, was the one who calmed them down. So when I took him away, I realized that I was depriving children who psychologically needed the help of this truly healing contact with an animal.

 Dad got an injury while in Manhush, and he wasn't in the best condition. I think it happened when he was walking with a grocery bag: a missile hit somewhere behind him, he fell down, and when he got up, there was only the handle left of the bag.

I felt that war brought to light the most valuable things because now every day matters greatly in terms of what you spend your time on and exactly what you devote your art to.

Always, especially when the siren goes off, I imagine a missile hitting my apartment: I see the furniture flying apart and how I get killed. I relive these moments constantly - I accept the fact that I'm going to die, and I feel better.
 

I called my grandmother, and she was like, "Don't worry, soon Kharkiv will be freed and everything will be fine." Who will it be freed from, me?