Seven years in Mariinka’s gray zone. Nina Diachenko saw the first battle for her hometown back in 2014, on June 11. Intruders came at night and killed her dogs. She gave the Ukrainian servicemen tips about snipers. The enormous will to win prevented her from leaving her home. Just like Hugo’s Gavroche, she bid defiance to sniper bullets. Needless to say that the war that started in 2022 did not scare the woman who lived near Kyiv when the full-scale invasion began. “This is our land, and we are not going anywhere,” she says with confidence.