Family Survives 40 Days In Basement

This father and daughter are the only ones left living in their family house in Stanytsia Luhanska, a village in East Ukraine. Before the war the house used to be home to three generations of their family.

The house is near the front line, a few kilometres away from forces of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic and “cossack” checkpoints on one side, and Ukrainian Army on the other. They described to Hromadske how the whole family were forced to live in their cold, damp basement for 40 days when the area came under heavy shelling in the autumn and winter.

Once the shelling eased, the younger generations moved out but with nowhere to go, the great-granddad and his daughter have stayed. They said that without them there would be no one to look after their goats and chickens, that have been traumatized by the fighting. They appear determined to continue with life and are hopeful that the shelling will not start again.

// Angelina Kariakina, filmed 03.17.2015