Maryna Shylko and her son were leaving the occupied Mariupol on foot. They were walking along the streets that had been completely destroyed by air raids. Maryna heard people moaning and screaming: they were trapped in the basement of a multi-storey building. But she could do nothing to help them. They were walking through the rubble. They tried not to step on the bodies of adults and children torn apart by shells. The dead were everywhere.

A few days later, they reached Berdyansk, and from there they made their way to the government-controlled territory. The family settled in Odesa, closer to the sea, which they had lost along with Mariupol.