But the Russians took away the opportunity to live and work on their native land from them, the Shmatoks’ descendants. They have nowhere to go back to. They have no home. They have nothing to restore or repair. Shmatok Jr.’s family remains there, in the village of Holoborodkivske, the Poltava region. They believed the war had temporarily driven them from Velyka Komyshuvakha. They believed they’d return after a week or two, or a month. But the expected return dragged on for years… And became a pipe dream.
Read the story of the Shmatok family from Velyka Komyshuvakha in the Kharkiv region.