"It is very difficult to start a new life for the third time"

Natalia is a single mother. She survived in Mariupol with her three daughters. She worked as a junior nurse in the intensive care unit of Hospital #9. She went to work until  March 7.

"On  February 24, a man and a child were the first to be brought to hospital 9. When the power went out, more than 10 people were taken away every night. There was no oxygen in the basement, and we were treating for covid, people were just dying. During the occupation, I looked after two women. I could not leave them. Unfortunately, one woman, who was paralysed, died. Many people asked for help. They asked for medicine or to bury their relatives.

It hit a neighbouring house. There were many wounded. I went to help them.

I am from Donetsk. I left in 2014. We do not communicate with relatives from Russia.

On  March 17, I came under massive shelling with my two daughters. The children were in shock. With the eldest daughter, they buried their grandmother in the yard of the kindergarten. At work, she took black bags and buried her.

We moved to the village of Moryakiv. Those who have not been there will never understand the horror.

I don't understand where I got the strength and energy to survive and take my children out. We tried to leave Mariupol for 5 days. My children are physically, but not mentally, intact. On  March 25, we left on foot. A rabbit, a turtle. We left them at the checkpoint.

It took us 5 days to get to Zaporizhzhia. These were the most terrible 5 days. They told me that "we were going from war to war". I don't know how long I didn't sleep. I told my children that it would be over soon. And we will come back. We spent the night near Vasylivka. We spent 5 days in the planted forests.

We survived automatically. I told myself that I would hold on to life under any circumstances. Many people were going crazy," said Natalia, a resident of Mariupol.