Hi, everybody! My name is Marharyta, I am from Kharkiv Region. When I was killed I was only 8 years old – I had just recently celebrated my birthday. It turned out to be my last one. Enemy shells fell right into our yard.

After lunch, I was sitting on the porch and reading a book to my mom while she was washing dishes outside. It was very quiet. In that moment our yard was hit by 10 cluster shells. One of them went right through my heart, I died instantly. My auntie was wounded too, she died in 10 days. Mom got lucky – she wasn`t harmed. 

I grew up into a copy of my father – I had his personality and looks. He even named me. But I was very close to my mom too - we could talk about anything. I was a good daughter and my parents never had any problems with me. I did dancing and singing and performed on stage. In my free time, I made beaded pictures – I like doing that kind of meticulous work. We always had many pets at home: parrots, guinea pigs, and chinchillas. In the future, I wanted to be a veterinarian and treat all animals. 

I had a lot of friends and we went on walks in my free time. We used to go to Kharkiv with my parents, I liked visiting Central Park. It seemed so big and beautiful. My mom, dad, and I wanted to go on vacation together but we didn`t get to. 

Now my parents moved to another village because our house was destroyed by the shelling. Mom says that after my death daddy turned white in a few days. My loved ones cannot describe how difficult their lives have become without me because it`s impossible to measure the pain of their loss. Every weekend they come to me – they visit my grave. Now it`s their only chance to see their daughter.