Together with her two children, husband and parents, Alina survived the war in Mariupol on the 5th floor in the common corridor.

"We had almost no food or water. We melted the snow and drank it. Neighbours caught and ate pigeons. Constant shelling. From 4 a.m. were airstrikes. Between the shelling, we cooked. It was very loud several times. I have hearing loss on both sides. I wear hearing aids. These are the consequences of blast waves. 

After March 8 – arrival on our house and the neighbouring house. We were left without windows. The temperature in the flat was the same as outside. 

A russian tank fired at houses near the Kosmos market. People were cooking. The russians fired at the 9th floor. I saw how the guys knocked out that tank. One russian was killed. The second one was lying in the pit from the airstrike. Before that, he asked for help from the locals. And the men threw him into the pit. 

Halyna Vizenkova, my husband's grandma, died of cold and hunger. We buried her in a mass grave," said Alina, a resident of Mariupol.