Fatima Kisieva, born in 1981, an inhabitant of Tskhinval:
We live in the nine-storey building in Roza Kochisova Street, on the western suburb of Tskhinval. The building is located directly under the Oak grove, - that is the height from where the Georgian tanks where shooting the town. In the evening of August, 7 the heavy bombardment started, and we were compelled to run downwards as it was very dangerous to stay in our flat on the ninth floor. By that time all our neighbours had already gathered on the ground floor, we were frightened so much, but at the same time we hoped that the fire would stop soon. To our horror the bombardment was becoming stronger, and we had to go down into the cellar. In this damp, cold cellar we spent two days I can`t think about till now without shuddering. Kiddies, among whom there were also babies, were crying uninterruptedly.
Probably, they were feeling our fear. We had no meal, we adults, could not think of meal, but the little ones … My heart was breaking; I could not look them in the face. At the moment of short interval our neigbour managed to leave our shelter; she brought a few milk and bread and we fed the hungry children. Explosions were of terrible force - our house was shaking. I had never heard such explosions, though since my childhood I was familiar with the town bombardments. On August, 9 it was already impossible to stay in the cellar and we tried to reach the bus station which, fortunately, was not so far. From there we reached the settlement Dzau by car through Zarskaya road. As we learnt later, we were lucky - the road was regularly fired and the Georgian monsters destroyed a lot of cars with civilians who were trying to transport their relatives - children, women, old men. From Dzau we went to our relatives in Vladikavkaz. All of us were in a state of shock; our relatives had not already hoped to see us alive. When we returned in some days, we could not recognize our nine-storey house - its walls were all in huge shot holes. More than three years have already passed since those awful events, but our memory is still bright, as though it happened yesterday. One could not forget the fear, pain and tears we had suffered on those days. In the future we will be developing and building our independent state in beating the odds, for the sake of the Ossetian and Russian soldiers who have given their lives for our future.
