Siukaeva Olga Aleksandrovna, 1969 d.b., an inhabitant of Tskhinval
I live on Heroes Street; this is one of the main streets of Tskhinval where the fights between the Georgian soldiers and the local boys have been taking place during the August war of 2008. On the night of August 8, about 12 o’clock the war has started. Terrible explosions have been resounded; one could not describe all horror which I have suffered that moment. Fear has seized me; I lost my head and instantly fell down on the floor. I was with my elderly mother at home. I have crawled to her room; it was terrible even to lift a head. My poor mother was sitting in the corner, trembling with fear. We have hardly gone down into the cellar, becoming weak in the knees.
Our neighbours were also in turmoil running down into the cellar, it seemed that the missile was just about to hit our house, and all of us would die. Even sitting in the cellar, we perfectly realized that if the missile hit our house the cellar would not help us, and we all would be buried under the debris. In full perplexity we have been sitting there till the morning, waiting for the Russian soldiers, but in the morning not them but the Georgian soldiers have appeared. They were walking along our street, we heard, how they shouted that Tskhinval is occupied; they called us, the citizens of the Republic of South Ossetia to go out of doors and surrender. Our boys tried to resist to the death to the Georgian soldiers, despite they have been armed much better. I was so afraid, I was sure that I would die, that it was the end of my life; so many thoughts were in my head, so many things left unfinished. The only way out was to pray God about rescuing our small people. The boys of Tskhinval were running to us, calming us and bringing bread. But it was very painful seeing them, so young and brave, ready to give their lives for us, for their Native land. I would have given my life for them. Many of us thought about leaving the Republic, but I did not think of it at all, because here was my Native land, my country, my city. And if it had not existed anymore, I would not have had any sense of living in any other place. Thanks God that he has rescued our people from full destruction by the Georgian fascists.
