Arina and Matvii were staying with their grandmother in a village in the southern Kherson region when the war began. Kherson was among the first regions occupied by the Russian invaders, with soldiers, military equipment and explosions being a daily sight for the two siblings. Arina and Matvii were forced to hide in the basement of their home; hungry and lacking food, they begged their father to take them elsewhere.
While attempting to evacuate to the nearby city of Mykolaiv, the family’s car was shot at by Russian soldiers. Arina and Matvii’s father was shot 17 times in front of his two children and died a few hours later. The two of them survived the attack while hugging the family’s dog, who shielded the children and died protecting them.
After experiencing this tragedy, Arina writes letters to her father in her diary every day, expressing her pain, despair and love for him. For her and her brother, he will forever remain a hero who saved the family at the cost of his own life.
