Nataliia Afanasiadi lost her husband in Mariupol. The tragedy struck on March 13, 2022. The family was hiding from shelling in the two-story house of her friend, Zhanna. 

“March 13. An enormous explosion. Everything was collapsing. A wall was falling on us. We were lying on the couch. The wall stopped near the couch armrest. My friend Zhanna’s mother was screaming wildly in the next room. Plaster and dust were falling on our faces, into our eyes. Zhanna woke from a stupor. She started calling for her son. He was in the next room with his grandmother,” recalls Nataliia, a Mariupol resident.

Ivan, Nataliia’s husband, Zhanna’s mother and son, and about 20 other people were killed in the air strike.