" I saw the first body on a bench in the park: "Why was he sleeping there in this cold?"

Together with her son and husband, Nataliia lived in the Skhidnyi residential district. It was very dangerous there, so the family moved to Nataliia's mother's house in the 17th residential district. At first, they lived on the 6th floor, but when an air strike hit a neighbouring building and it was almost completely destroyed, they moved to the second floor. Six people lived in a small corridor. 

"We did not leave the city because we were sure that Mariupol was not in danger. It was getting scarier. We had to move closer to the centre. There was no place in Terasport. I went with my husband to look for another shelter. The village of Parkove was completely destroyed, we walked through the rubble. We came under an air raid. We ran home. When I came back, I saw my husband running at a distance from me, so that we wouldn't be killed together. He shouted at me not to look around, because there were many dead around," Nataliia said, a resident of Mariupol. 

Because the family had a pro-Ukrainian stance and collected food for the military, the neighbours filed a complaint against Natalia and her husband. "Now there is a case against us in the so-called 'DPR'. And because of this, our apartment was at the disposal of the 'police' and neighbours for a year," the woman said.