Kateryna spent two weeks under occupation in Kyiv Oblast. All the time, the girl and her family had to hide and stay in the cellar. Russian soldiers were stationed next to their house, in the yard. When they could not enter the house, they broke all the windows and tried to get into the cellar. On the first days of the war, the Russian military occupied the village where Kateryna lived, located in the western part of Kyiv Oblast. Fighting continued there, and the Russian army destroyed property, looted, tortured, and killed civilians for a long time.