In Mariupol, Natalia tried to survive, first in an apartment building on Myru Avenue and then in the Philharmonic. On March 9, when the air strike on the maternity hospital happened, Nataliia was with her family in an apartment on the 9th floor of a house opposite the maternity hospital. 

“The air strike. My pregnant sister was lying in the hallway. She started screaming. It’s good that she did not go into labor,” recalls Nataliia.

On March 12, the woman went to the Philharmonic. Her mother was already there. She was brought from the Left Bank. 

“We had some meat and liver on the balcony. When the stained-glass windows fell on the liver after the bombardment, we picked out the shrapnel with our bare hands to save the food,” says Nataliia.


Five older people died. Their bodies were carried out to the backyard. “We said goodbye to each other every day.” 

“March 27. I ran outside. I wanted to go to the apartment on Myru Avenue. There are dead bodies everywhere. Two guys were passing by: — There are snipers there. They’ll shoot you. — Why? I’m a girl. March 29. It’s a horror. The last group left. The nerves were shattered. It took me and my mom eight hours to get out of town. We got to the sea. She walked 10 meters and took Corvalol. I was afraid she would die, as I didn’t know what I would do with her. Here’s me, here’s mom, and here’s the sea. That’s it...”