Maksym Snitkovskyi is a guy who is in love with his work. He worked for the future and planned to develop in his field. More precisely, to reach greater heights in the football agency. Tragedy came to his life before the full-scale invasion, and he had to learn about the loss of a loved one beforehand. He told the “Monologues of the War” project about his psycho-emotional state, the death of his grandmother, and the loss of his home.

I have been living in Kyiv for 12 years and I have my dream job, I work in a football agency. 

In recent times, I was completely immersed in work and had many plans and projects that I wanted to implement in the near future. Every day I actively worked and was one step closer to the set goals. Fortunately, my relatives and friends always support me, which helps me in new achievements. Our relations are always extremely warm.

February has been a roller coaster month for me

As soon as I returned from a business trip, sad news awaited me. I lost a very close person – my best grandmother. A person who always exuded childhood and kindness. She put her grandchildren first and literally lived by them. It was a significant blow to my psycho-emotional state and the loss made a big mark on me. Due to a personal tragedy, all the news about a possible war was just a background for me. It was not even taken seriously, and I did not believe that it could be in the century of digitalization and modernity in general.

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It was only a few days before the start of a full-scale invasion that I came to realize that this could really happen when at every turn this was the only thing people were talking about. Broadcasts on TV and various posts on social networks did return me to reality. Then thoughts began to appear that everything was not so good after all. As it is said: “There is no smoke without fire.”

But even despite all the obvious signs, I still couldn’t believe that a person in their right mind would dare to do this. How can you launch an invasion of another country and call it a “rescue” operation? And it’s a pity that the russians believe in this nonsense because the opposite side is also broadcast to them on TV and in newspapers.

The so-called “rescue” operation began on February 24. This morning we woke up to the sounds of explosions. We quickly gathered everything we needed, of course, there was no mention of the alarming suitcase, and we left Kyiv. We should have taken care of it earlier, but in a hurry, we also gathered everything we needed at that time.

The first months of the war were like a blur

All days are like one, full of despair, pain, and hatred. The only distraction was working for our joint victory. Everyone did what they could due to their efforts and skills. Constant donations to support our military and help the victims. Reading terrible information that something happened to someone: someone lost their home, family, bombed the private sector… All this is scary and incredibly painful, but it seems far away until it happens to you.

For the first time, the thought that we lost our home appeared on April 28, when news began to appear late in the evening that a rocket had hit an apartment building in Kyiv. Intuition and something at the level of the subconscious did not give the calmness. Not for nothing. Then we were lucky and everything ended with a slight shock for us, but a difficult challenge for the neighbors. Unfortunately, several people were injured and one person died. A few months later, we had to experience the destruction. Rather, the consequences of “rescue”.

On June 26, we were already less fortunate

A direct hit of a rocket into one of the houses made it completely unlivable. Moreover, debris from the explosion flew everywhere. Actually, after that, a two-meter fragment of a window frame from a neighboring house and many small fragments of neighboring windows and bricks flew into our apartment. The fragment broke through the glass, flew almost all over the apartment, and landed directly on the bed. To a place of peace and rest.

When we returned to Kyiv and entered the apartment, we began to examine everything. We could not believe that this fragment was from the neighboring house. After all, it seemed at first that the cornice had come off. I can only imagine what would have happened had we been home at the time – an inevitable tragedy.

At first, I was very glad that my fiance and I were not hurt and remained unharmed, but now I have very mixed feelings, because on the one hand, thank God, we were not there, but on the other hand, I do not know when we will be able to return to our own home.

Another terrorist attack by the russians brought us pain and suffering again. How many more civilians must suffer in order for russia to be recognized as a state sponsor of terrorism? They are killing us again because we are Ukrainians. This is not the first attempt to destroy our nation! This is genocide.

The russians’ war of aggression destroyed our homes, turned our lives upside down, and damaged our future.

Until February 24, I had many plans and dreams, now there is only one dream – to wake up in the morning.