On 24 February 2022, Russian troops reached Chernihiv from the border in a matter of hours. At 7 am, Nataliia heard the sounds of shelling. The city was under siege.

Food was hard to come by, the girl recalls. One day Nataliia decided to take some bread to a relative. She will remember that trip for the rest of her life. Nataliia missed the shelling by a few hours. The Russians dropped a bomb on the checkpoint she was passing on the road.

But even after the occupiers left the land of the Siversk region, Nataliia did not feel better. Difficult circumstances forced the teenager to leave her biological family. The girl found shelter in a foster family. Now she is doing sports professionally and is preparing to enter college.

The girl told her story during the holiday. For many years in a row, it has been organised by the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation for Children affected by the war.