Editor’s office of the Russkiy Mir Portal
Photo credit: Vyacheslav Gladkov/Telegram
The edtor's office of the Russkiy Mir Portal has got a letter that provides a clear overview from the first-person perspective of what is happening now in the towns and settlements of Donbass that have been shelled by the Ukrainian army. This letter is from the town of Zolotoye in the Lugansk People's Republic. It was written by Marina Katrushenko, a school teacher, and addressed to volunteers of the Alliance for the Future of Donbass, a non-profit organization from Germany that has been delivering humanitarian aid to Donbass for many years. These are the words of an eyewitness, and we believe it is important to publish them. The letter is published with minor edits.
The settlement of Zolotoye-5 is still on the demarcation line. We have been experiencing heavy armed hostilities for the ninth year in a row. The Zolotoye school has been under continuous shelling by the Ukrainian armed forces.
On19.02.2022, the educational process was suspended until further notice due to the escalation of the situation on the demarcation line. On April 4, the educational process was resumed in a remote format with the use of distance learning technologies <...>. The <...> round-the-clock duty mode was set for the personnel employed at the educational institution.
Children from our settlement studied being exposed to frequent power outages, the absence of a mobile network, and Internet access. We spent most of the day in the home basements, which were converted to shelters. Communication with families was carried via notebooks with completed assignments. Parents handed them over to the teachers using various convenient and safe ways.
School leavers were released from taking the state final certification. Levels of academic achievement based on the results of the annual assessment were considered the results of the state final certification of students of IX and XI grades. Nevertheless, in spite of such complications, pupils of the 1st to 8th and 10th grades were promoted, and pupils of the 9th and 11th grades left school. They were handed certificates of basic and complete general secondary education. A graduate of the 11th grade, Kovalenko Georgiy, was awarded the gold medal "For Excellent Academic Achievements".
Over the course of the distance studies, the school was heavily shelled.
On May 6, the settlement was shelled by MRLS "Grad". About 100 ground-to-ground rockets exploded on the territory of Zolotoye-5. At 11:10 one rocket landed on the Romka's Wlnut Alley planted by schoolchildren to commemorate the hero that our school was named after. The second one exploded in the roof above the assembly hall.
Fortunately, all the teachers and school staff were indoors. They quickly took shelter in the maintenance manager's room, a safe place that has no windows.
The terrifying sounds of the exploding shells, the shattering glass, and the vibrating walls will always stay in my memory like a nightmare. However, the main thing was that everyone made it out alive, and survived. The children were with their parents. A nurse who was trying to help a wounded neighbor died that day in the settlement. On May 15, during another shelling of the settlement, a rocket hit the main roof of the school building. The slab subsided and a huge hole was formed. Again, more glass was shattered.
We cleaned everything up on our own. We cleared away piles of glass and debris. We used plastic sheeting to cover the windows. We temporarily sealed the holes in the roof with tarpaulin, so that the school would not be flooded in case of heavy summer rain.
There is no point in starting renovation work for now. The situation in Zolotoye-5 remains consistently tense. Moreover, the settlement suffers from big water scarcity. All materials and equipment are stored in a safe place. As soon as we have the smallest possibility, we will start to put up wallpaper, put down linoleum, and carpeting. We will do it ourselves in the very near future. We will engage parents to help.
We are grateful for your help, wonderful building materials, and high-quality equipment delivered to our school. We hope to make a beautiful renovation by putting up new curtains on the windows, refurbishing the classrooms with new wallpaper, and restoring the damaged flooring. After all, the school is the only place in the settlement where it is warm and cozy for all of us. Our enthusiasm is inspired by children. We live, work, and endure all the horrors of war for them.
