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Inside the First Days of Russia’s Siege of Mariupol: A Wartime Diary
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Before Russia's full-scale invasion, 42-year-old Kateryna Savenko was a mother, a wife, a steelworker, and a lifelong resident of Mariupol. When the siege began on February 24, 2022, her life became a daily struggle for survival amid relentless Russian shelling.
For 34 days, Kateryna Savenko and her family lived beneath the ruins of besieged Mariupol, sheltering in the basement of their home as Russian bombs and artillery fire devastated the city. Amid the destruction, she documented daily life under siege in a personal diary that has now been published as Kateryna Savenko’s Diary.
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According to the Civil Voices Museum, the book offers a rare account of the civilian experience during the siege of Mariupol—one often overshadowed by casualty figures, military reports, and political narratives. Preserving not only the facts of survival but also the voice of a woman writing without knowing whether anyone would ever read her words, the diary serves as a powerful historical and human testimony.
Kateryna began writing on February 24, 2022, the day Russia launched its full-scale invasion. Her first entry captured the disbelief that quickly gave way to panic.
It was an ordinary morning. Nothing foretold disaster. It was hard to get up for work. And then it began. During the shift handover, we were told to stay in one location. Strange. Then the women were sent home from work. The supervisors fell into a depression that slowly and steadily turned into hysteria. I walked home calmly and saw a huge line at the ATMs. Panic was starting. The shelves were being swept clean. People were grabbing sausages and water, carrying bags full of bread. ‘Nonsense,’ I thought. I laughed. Silly panic.
Day 1: February 24, 2022
Extract fron Kateryna Savenko’s diary
Within days, normal life had disappeared.
Vitalyi’s birthday. From early morning—gunfire. That’s how we celebrated. Every day it gets worse. But we still have electricity and water. Other districts don’t. When I came to the maternity hospital to give birth to Nadiia, the doctor kept saying, ‘Sleep between contractions.’ That’s exactly how we sleep now—between explosions.
Day 5: February 28, 2022
Extract fron Kateryna Savenko’s diary
As the siege tightened, communications collapsed and survival became increasingly uncertain.
Each day is worse than the previous one. It’s terrifying. Very. There is no connection. Vodafone still works sporadically, but only outside. And it’s terrifying to go outside. We don’t know who is alive. We know nothing at all… The city is completely cut off. With every day, with every explosion, all the organs inside the body shake like jelly. Today it’s snowing. Huge white flakes are slowly drifting down from the sky. Slowly, slowly. Like a fairy tale. Near the entrance, buckets have been left out to collect snow. There will be water for emergencies.
Day 8: March 3, 2022
Extract fron Kateryna Savenko’s diary
Alongside its account of war, the diary documents everyday life under siege: caring for loved ones, the solidarity of neighbors, small moments of comfort, recollections of pre-war Mariupol, and the struggle to preserve a sense of normal life and human dignity despite the devastation.
I live on only one thing: the hope that everything — even the most terrible — comes to an end sooner or later… I write the date on the door with chalk… Hope dies last…21:15. I can no longer sleep. Fear—not for myself, but for my loved ones—has filled every cell of my body. I am in the basement of my half-destroyed house, writing these lines in the half-darkness. The second-to-last candle is burning down.
Day 17: March 12, 2022
Extract fron Kateryna Savenko’s diary
As food ran out and the bombardment continued, despair spread throughout the city.
People are going mad. Hunger. Fear. Hopelessness. If only we knew when this madness would end. We need none of life’s comforts. Just let us live peacefully, without shelling. Everyone is busy—but with completely different concerns now. And there is no happiness left on anyone’s face.
Day 23: March 18, 2022
Extract fron Kateryna Savenko’s diary
By the end of March, Kateryna reflected on how differently people had adapted to life in what she described as “hell.”
Here, in this hell, everyone behaves differently: some fear the slightest sound just as they did in the first days; some have resigned themselves; others accept it as punishment for their own sins and for those of all humanity. Many have calmed down and busy themselves with daily routines. Tomorrow will be the thirtieth day. Is that a lot or a little? No one knows the answer.
Day 26: March 24, 2022
Extract fron Kateryna Savenko’s diary
The tragedy she described soon became her own. On March 29, 2022, Russian shelling killed Kateryna's husband, Vitalii, and left her critically wounded. While hospitalized, she used her only uninjured hand to send her daughter one final request: save the diary.
On April 2, the hospital caught fire after another Russian attack. Kateryna managed to escape the burning building, but died two days later, on April 4, in her mother's arms while sheltering in the basement of her mother's home.
Kateryna's family preserved her diary entries and later donated them to the Civil Voices Museum. Those writings ultimately became the foundation of the book.
“Until the very end, my mother wanted the world to know what was really happening in Mariupol. She wrote these entries amid shelling, fear, and uncertainty, but even then she was thinking not only about herself—she wanted to preserve the truth about the people who lived through the siege. For our family, this book is a way to fulfill her wish and ensure that her voice continues to be heard,” said Kateryna Savenko's daughter, Nadiia Savenko.
According to preliminary estimates by the Mariupol City Council, at least 22,000 people were killed during the siege of the city. Officials believe the actual death toll is likely several times higher.
As of 2026, Mariupol remains under Russian occupation.
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