Anna Zaitseva spent 65 days in the Azovstal bunker with her infant son. Before the full-scale invasion, she was a French teacher in her native Mariupol. Anna's husband, Kirill, is a former Marine. When his son was born, Kirill left the military to be with his family. He found a job at the Azovstal plant.
On February 25, the Zaitsevs, with their three-month-old son and Anna's parents, went down to one of Azovstal's bunkers. They had to endure the missiles fired from every type of warfare, shelling, two months without daylight, … and the “motherhood of steel”. This is when you have only one wet wipe for the whole day, heat water to make formula milk with a candle, cut clothes that are too small, and cover your son with your body at night because the whitewash falls from the bunker ceiling…
They got out on April 30. But their way to freedom lay through a filtration camp… As the wife of an Azov member, Anna was interrogated for several hours… Kirill Zaitsev joined the Azov regiment on the first days of the full-scale invasion. In May 2022, he was captured along with other Azovstal defenders.
