Varvara, her family and other residents of Mariupol were forced to survive in the new inhumane conditions created by russian invaders. In the first days of the war, Russian troops surrounded Mariupol and began random shelling of the city with heavy artillery and aircraft. Water, electricity, gas and communication were gone. In the 10-degree cold, Varvara and her family hid in basements around the clock and cooked over a fire. Only a month later they finally managed to leave. It took Varvara's family two days to get to Zaporizhzhia.