Olena did not leave Bakhmut until the last moment. Or rather, until she was injured. She continued to go to work because she worked as a specialist in the social protection department. The woman says with humour that the door to her office was blown out by the blast wave, so instead of opening it, she simply put it aside. The cold winter of 2023 taught her how to chop wood, use a stove and do laundry in a stream.

And then there was the injury after a mortar attack. Leg injuries, a shrapnel in the back of the head that has not yet been removed. And a long treatment. Olena told her story during her treatment in Borzhava, which is supported by the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation.