Daria from Sievierodonetsk clearly remembers when the war first came in 2014. But back then, she says, there was still hope, it still seemed like it would all end soon. However, 2022 took everything: home, peace, confidence in the future. From the first days of russia’s full-scale invasion, the city was gripped by fear. There was a constant hum, explosions, and cracking sounds. Daria recalls how her little children asked to sleep without shoes — they wanted so much to feel at least a bit of calm. But she didn’t allow them to take off their shoes, because at any moment they might need to run to the shelter. Most often, they hid in the cellar. When the russian airstrikes began, they decided: they had to flee.