A shell exploded right next to Valentyna Vyhinna’s house. The fragments tore through the wall and the sofa – the very spot where, just a few minutes earlier, she and her husband had been sitting. Moments before the explosion, an inner voice told her: “We need to take cover!”. That premonition saved their lives then, and more than once afterwards. 

They spent almost a month living in a basement. Just a few kilometres away, at Azovstal, her son, a serviceman, was staying. Each time, Valentyna could hear enemy aircraft dropping bombs on the plant, one after another…

The couple were accompanied by Marik – their son’s German Shepherd. During one of the shelling attacks, the dog was wounded and lost an eye. Valentyna patiently nursed the German Shepherd back to health, feeding him with a syringe.

Soon, they learned from their neighbours that the area would be razed to the ground, so they decided to flee further. They took Marik with them. On the way, Valentyna and her husband miraculously made it through a mined area. They themselves do not know how they managed it, as a motorcyclist had been blown up there just a few hours earlier. They stayed with acquaintances for about a week, but after another strike hit the yard, they were forced to flee again. Thanks to Valentyna’s husband knowing the local roads and paths well, the couple managed to reach Zaporizhzhia. 

Valentyna’s son was taken captive by russia. For almost four years, the woman travelled to Kyiv to attend support rallies, appealed to government institutions and waited hopefully for every prisoner exchange. 

On February 5, 2026, Valentyna’s son returned from captivity. But for her, the story did not end with his return. She continues to speak about what she went through so that this pain is not erased from memory – so that future generations know what the people of Mariupol, their families, and all those who waited for years for their loved ones to return from captivity went through. “Memory must remain for our generations,” Valentyna emphasises.