Olena Kotova recalls how she went to Odesa the day before the war started to spend time by the sea. But her plans changed the next morning: the war broke into the lives of millions of Ukrainians. She returned home to Kyiv a month after the invasion. Together with her husband, she started helping volunteers. Her husband repaired sewing machines, and Olena sewed for the military. In addition to volunteering, she has a hobby – embroidery. She experiments with new techniques to create three-dimensional and abstract images. From time to time, she puts her artworks up for auction to raise money to help the army.