The kindergarten building in this village in eastern Ukraine was once a source of pride. Renovated and brightly decorated with money provided by German donors, its classrooms were opening the doors of education to 120 pupils at a time, reports GHN based on Fox News.
Today, the building is a dusty, rocket-riddled wreck. Scatterings of bullet holes in the walls suggest a gun battle probably took place nearby.
For much of Ukraine's five-month-old war, Novosvitlivka was largely spared. Then in early August, it was taken over by government forces, only to be aggressively clawed back by Russian-backed separatists. Widespread, indiscriminate rocket attacks destroyed the school, many homes and the local hospital. The conflict has left some streets littered with the remains of destroyed tanks.
Many residents brush away the question of who is responsible for the village's destruction and focus instead on how their community is to survive and rebuild.
"We didn't want war," said Tatyana, one of several hospital workers who were clearing away smashed glass and bricks from the building where they worked.
"They came and bombed us from all sides. Who and for what reason we still do not know," she said Monday, only giving her first name for fear of reprisal. "Nobody wanted any war. It is not for us to decide who is right and who is wrong, who came here and who destroyed everything here."
Novosvitlivka's great misfortune was to lie next to a highway used by separatist rebels to supply their stronghold in the city of Luhansk.