Schoolgirl Alena Zagreba photographed the horrors of the war every day before she was able to escape along the evacuation corridor. The father stayed in Ukraine, he says in an interview with .
Alena Zagreb is a 15-year-old girl from Mariupol who loves making videos and dreams of making a movie. When Russian troops attacked Mariupol in late February, Zagreb began filming everything he saw on his phone.
The video diary shows how he survived the horrors of war for nearly three weeks in a besieged city.
Zagreb photographed every day. He recorded on the video the bombings and the destruction of the city visible from the window of his home.
– Look, everything’s ruined. You can record a horror movie here, Zagreba says in a video diary.
The video depicts the survival of a family in the worst-hit city in Ukraine. The window in the teenage girl’s room shows the buildings being destroyed, the cars burning and the windows falling apart. The home is also full of shards of bombing. Alena Zagreba counts the days. From the background you can hear the sounds of bombing without interruption.
“Dad is my hero”
In the absence of electricity and water, Alena Zagreba melted the snow into water so her parents could put food outside by the fire.
The family survived by moving from house to house as the bombings destroyed homes. Day by day, the hometown turned into ruins.
On March 16, the Zagreb family finally managed to escape with the evacuation convoy. They first arrived in Zaporizhia, which Zagreb describes in the video “for a moment of happiness.” From there, the journey continued to safety to Luxembourg, where he began school.
The father remained in Ukraine to fight as a volunteer. He is currently in the city of Dnipro.
– We call every day. Dad is my hero, Alena Zagreba tells in a video call.
Alena Zagreb’s biggest dream is that the war will end and she will see her father again.
“There is nothing left to return to in Mariupol”
Alena Zagreba wanted to share her video diary with the world on the internet after she got to safety in Luxembourg. Although all is well now, he often thinks of his friends.
– I have no connection with my friends or teachers in Mariupol. Some fled, some remained in Ukraine. I don’t know what happened to them, Zagreb sighs.
– I hope to get back to Ukraine, meet my friends and everything will be fine. I can’t return to Mariupol. There is nothing to return to, he mourns the destruction of his hometown.
Zagreb still enjoys filming videos, but he no longer has to shoot the horrors of war.
– It’s wonderful to edit funny pictures and add music to them, he says.