WHAT HAPPENED

Before the full-scale invasion, Andrii paid all his bills for the house, loans, and taxes. The family had very little money left, as they were expecting the new season to start, which should bring them new profit. Andrii’s wife underwent surgery, after which she must take medications for the rest of her life, which is critical for her survival. After the russians came, the price for these medications rose from 450UAH (⁓15$) to 1800-2000 UAH (⁓50$).

At the beginning of March, russians destroyed and looted all the stores in the town. For two months, the local citizens could not travel anywhere due to the shelling and prohibition. The nearest grocery was in Kupyansk, which is 100 km away from Izum. 

Only in a couple of months, occupiers allowed citizens to travel. Thus, Andrii started going to the market to sell milk in the city of Kupyansk. Within this distance, Andrii had to pass through 11 checkpoints, where he was forced to get undressed and show tattoos. Moreover, occupiers tried to convince him to join their army, but always refused to do that. Moreover, he noticed, that every time russians were bringing humanitarian aid, there was shelling of these places and civilians at that moment. Therefore, Andrii refused to get aid to stay alive. It was the reason the russians threaten to take him to the basement, where they interrogate those who are suspected of betrayal.

The occupiers were very cruel, especially when they were drunk. They could drive into yard on the tank, enter the house with the machine gun and threaten. They took food from the local as their military food was not tasty. Once they came and demanded a pig. Instead, Andrii asked for medicine for his wife. They promised to give it to him, but didn’t bring anything. Moreover, they were forcing the Matvienko family to get russian passports and to move to russia.

The family had two small houses for different seasons. The one with 4 rooms was too cold to live in during winter, thus they live in a smaller house (with 2 rooms) when it became cold. Andrii has been working and running a small farm for 20 years in order to fix one of his houses.

On the 9^th of September 2022, when Ukrainian forces started counteroffensive, one russian tank, whoch was hit, uncontrollably moved into the yard of the Matvienko family. It was a massive detonation; the fire and explosions destroyed the barn with equipment, garage, two houses and the construction materials. Only 2 bulls were saved; cows and all the chickens were burned to death.