Survivor of shelling receives humanitarian aid in rebel-held Ukrainian town

Rayisa Mykolayivna hopes for peace after she managed to restore her house damaged by artillery shelling.

The 74-years-old pensioner, a former veterinarian and factory worker, now depends on produce the Red Cross brings to her hometown Horlivka In rebel-held territory.

Horlivka is located just on the frontline of Ukraine’s eight-year war against Russian-backed forces in the Donbass region.

Pensioner Mykolayivna says she hopes for “peace, peace, and peace.”

“I don’t know when all of this will end, and we will finally be either a fully independent country – which rather won’t happen – or with Ukraine,” Mykolayivna told Reuters in an interview.

At the beginning of the conflict, her house was hit by artillery shelling.

“It took me three years working to fully recover my house. It was fully destroyed. I didn’t have windows for a long time,” she said. Some of the produce the Red Cross distributes come from Ukraine.

Mykolayivna was especially happy with the sack of sugar in her aid package as she has a sweet tooth.

“From the canned fish I cook fish soup, … the canned meat contains a lot of fat … once you open a can it lasts for a week, without a doubt,” she added.

Western countries have stepped up arms deliveries to Ukraine, but Kyiv says it needs more. The United States has ruled out sending US troops to Ukraine to fight.

French President Emmanuel Macron and Putin agreed during an exchange on Monday  to maintain a dialogue on implementing the Minsk agreements regarding Donbass, a region of eastern Ukraine where Moscow has backed separatist fighters.