Since April 2022, the cultural monument has been under constant fire from the Russian army. After all, it is only two kilometers from here to the Russian border.
The 1912 building suffered the most damage during the July 4 attack. Then at least 20 enemy shells flew in. Half of the house was left without a roof and partially without walls. The facade was also mutilated by debris, and the windows and doors were blown away.
But the worst thing is that people were hiding in the basement of the house that day. They were wards of the Athens psychoneurological boarding school, which has been housed in the country house of the Tereshchenkos for the last half century.
"Then we survived the heaviest shelling. From the first explosions, the wards were transferred to a safe place. However, the shelling was so dense that one ward was wounded. Together with the workers on duty, we waited out the shelling in the basement," said the occupational therapy inspector of the institution, local resident Olga Rybalko.
Enemy shells actually destroyed the club and library of the boarding school. But the spiral wooden staircase, which once led to the ballroom of the Tereshchenkos' country house, was almost undamaged. Despite their solid age, they stood up under the weight of bricks and other construction debris. The ancient brick fence was not damaged either.
"Over the past three years, we have renovated our rooms, office premises, and purchased agricultural machinery. In the rest rooms, our wards had everything they needed. We had a lot of plans and dreamed of implementing them," recalls director of the boarding school Oleg Tereshchenko.
This story "Your home” made in partnership with by the community of Bilopol'. City.