A large part of the Zaporizhzhia region was occupied in the first weeks of the full-scale russian invasion. Dniprorudne was also surrounded, recalls Tetiana Tolko, a resident of the city. But they did not enter the city itself: because the people of Dniprorudna, led by the mayor, resisted. They went to rallies and did not let the column of russian armored vehicles pass.

But later the city was still captured. Almost immediately, the russians began hunting for the participants of the rallies. In front of Tatyana’s eyes, they were stolen right from the house. They were taken for questioning, wearing a black bag on their head. The woman’s family left the city when the occupiers began forcing locals to obtain russian documents.