During the full-scale invasion, Hennadii lived in Mariupol with his son and took care of his wife’s mother. On March 14, while he was cooking, he almost died.

“I went out to talk to the neighbors. Around 12:00 there was a powerful explosion. I started running to the door. My right leg was bleeding from the foot. I did not feel any pain. I ran into the corridor and took off my sneaker. I got a shrapnel wound to my right foot, and a wound to my left leg near the knee. My neighbors took me to the hospital and saved my life. They performed an operation. They sewed up the wound”, said Hennadii, a resident of Mariupol.

His wife’s mother refused to leave Mariupol. Hennadii and his son left. And when the woman was diagnosed with cancer in April 2024, her daughter, who was trying to get to her mother, was not allowed to enter Sheremetievo. “On April 28, my mother-in-law died. At Sheremetievo, the russians did not like my wife’s avatar. They found a photo of the Ukrainian flag on her phone. They said that when the so-called special military operation is over, we will let you through”, the man said.