Natalia Zapotochna, 37, wonders how she and her family will rebuild their lives amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Ms Zapotochna, who is the mother of three, told the Bangkok Post how she fled her home in the village of Posad-Pokrovske in Kherson city in southern Ukraine under heavy Russian fire on March 15 last year.
There were around 900 houses in the village, and over half of them had been destroyed by Russian missiles during that first stage of the war that began on Feb 24, 2022.
Before leaving, she and her family lived in a neighbour's underground shelter for two weeks to stay safe.
Ms Zapotochna, her 52-year-old husband and their children crammed their belongings into their car, and they fled.
After leaving Posad-Pokrovske, Ukrainian soldiers took them to stay at an evacuation centre in nearby Odesa city.
The family and 700 other evacuees returned to their village just over a year later, in April.
"When I saw my house for the first time, I felt that I did not want to see it, and my husband did not want to get close to it because he felt sad to see it so destroyed," she said last month.
"We lived in this house for two years before the war. We went into debt to buy it, and we just finished paying off the debt.
"But we do not know how we can find the money to fix it," she said.
As winter approached, the family of five were living in the remains of their destroyed house, and were using recycled plastic canvas to cover the roof and walls as needed.
"Now, we do not have [sufficient] light. We do not have electricity," she said.
"I have nothing to lose any more. It's hard to imagine the future. How will we live in such destruction and rebuild our lives and livelihoods?
"I didn't feel good when my kids told me they wanted to go to school, as the village's school was also destroyed," Ms Zapotochna said.
Zapotochna: Big rebuild ahead
Her husband, Mr Onufrichuk, who was standing next to her, told the Bangkok Post that their house was big, with five rooms, before it was destroyed.
"I missed it so much. That's why I wanted to leave the evacuation centre," he said.
Ms Zapotochna said that while they are unsure about what life has in store for them, they will demolish their house and try to rebuild their home.
"But money matters. We do not have money now. We are going to start our life again from scratch," she said.
Due to the chaos of war, Ms Zapotochna and Mr Onufrichuk are now unemployed.
They were wearing clothes that people in the West had donated to local and international charities, such as Unicef.
Those affected by the war have accepted food donations from individuals, companies, humanitarian organisations and the international community.
With the school destroyed, Ms Zapotochna said she is concerned about her children's education and hopes the school reopens as quickly as possible.
She said it has been difficult for her children to understand what has happened with the house and their lives.
The children kept asking when they would have a new house and wanted to go to school because they missed their friends.
One of her children wanted to see her two dogs and two cats that disappeared during the bomb attacks last year, she said.
During the interview, Mr Onufrichuk showed ammunition and shells that he had found in the yard behind his house and that of their neighbours.
Asked when they thought the war would be over, Ms Zapotochna said everybody wanted to know that.
As the war drags on, its destructive impacts only worsen, and more and more people are in trouble and struggling to survive.
Ms Zapotochna and her husband were speaking to this Bangkok Post reporter who was among a group of seven journalists from Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Cambodia, South Korea, Japan, and Mongolia invited to Ukraine to talk to those affected by Russia's invasion.
The trip was organised by Ukraine-based NGO Public Interest Journalism Lab, which advocates for best journalism practices.
Ms Natalia's husband, Vitalii Onufrichuk, shows ammunition and shells he found behind his destroyed house.
Pledges to rebuild the church
On July 23, a Russian missile attack on the Ukrainian port city of Odesa killed at least one person, wounded 22 and badly damaged the Ukrainian Orthodox house of worship: the Transfiguration Cathedral, which is a Unesco World Heritage site, local officials said.
Father Myroslav, who accompanied the media group to tour the damaged cathedral, said it was Odesa's first and foremost cathedral, built in 1794, only to be demolished by the Soviets in 1936.
Rebuilding the cathedral began in 1999 and was completed in 2010.
Father Myroslav said the cathedral is meaningful to Ukrainians in the city.
"It was a huge sorrow for many Ukrainian people because it was the first time in Ukrainian history that a cathedral had been rebuilt.
"People nationwide donated their money through 22,000 organisations to rebuild it," he said.
On the night of the missile attack, five people were living in a shelter in the cathedral. Fortunately, he said, they survived, but the missile destroyed the cathedral's roof and two underground floors.
Father Myroslav said renovations are under way, but he could not say when they would be completed as the country remains at war and everybody is suffering while it carries on.
"I am optimistic that when peace comes, it will take two or three years to finish rebuilding," he said.
The father has called for more donations and other financial assistance from abroad to help rebuild the cathedral.
