Marianna lived in Slobidka, near the sea. On 26 February 2022, her friends from Sartana came to visit her because the village had already been shelled. They survived together. 

 «It was scary. Planes, air bombs. There was a hit in the neighboring house. There was a hole in the roof. When we found out about the possibility of leaving, we left. We passed more than 20 checkpoints where we were searched.

I was filtered in Novoazovsk. It was horrible and scary. From 4.30am we stood in the open air until 11am. Then, we were taken to a building where we filled out questionnaires. Then they checked our phones, and then [took] our fingerprints, photos from different angles like the attackers were photographed. A well-known girl from Mariupol was found to have a photo on her phone where she was standing on the Maidan in Kyiv with our flag. She was accused of being a terrorist and coming to kill them. The girl became sick. 

All the employees were from Horlivka and had weapons. When we were standing on the street, two or three fighter jets flew overhead. It was scary. I started panicking, crying, shaking with fear," said Marianna, a resident of Mariupol.