39 Days to Death: A Diary of Kateryna Savenko, who died in Mariupol, at The Museum of Civilian Voices of the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation

Kateryna Savenko started keeping a diary with the first explosions on February 24, 2022. She wrote every day until the death of her husband Vitaliy and her fatal injury... After her death, her mother managed to take two notebooks out of the destroyed Mariupol. Kateryna's diary became part of The Museum of Civilian Voices of the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation.

The memories of the last 39 days of her life contain everything: fabulous snow and the horror of deadly planes. The colour of crocuses and cold, exhausting nights in the basement. A flicker of hope that was extinguished by despair, and the irony that the stages of grief acceptance need to be revised.

"My precious mum and dad, please live! Forgive me, my family, for everything I have done wrong! I kneel before you; I kiss your feet and the ground you walk on. God bless you!" Kateryna writes on one of her hardest days. She also addresses her daughter Nadiia and her friends.

The recordings will be stopped on March 29, 2022. A russian shell hits their house. Vitaliy will die immediately. Heavily injured Kateryna will jump out of the hospital on fire three days later and live in terrible pain for two more days.

"Mum, I'm wounded. I'm in the city hospital No. 1. The doctors have all left. My leg is broken, and my face is torn. Vitaliy is dead. Nadia is in the hospital basement. Help!" - this was her last message on a tiny cardboard.

This note will be handed over to her mother... Katia and Vitaliy's mothers will go to the hospital. The mother will see her daughter by chance. Katia will die in her arms in the basement on April 4... Kateryna will be 42 years old forever. Vitaliy will be 47. Their daughter Nadiia will survive and be able to evacuate.

Kateryna Savenko's diary is much more than just one person's personal notes. It contains the tragedy of Mariupol. The tragedy of Ukraine.
These posts should be read in the original, on scanned sheets of paper, in The Museum of Civilian Voices, and this link should be shared to remind the world of the terrible fate of Ukrainians killed by russian invaders: https://bit.ly/49pd4FM

The Museum collects Ukrainian civilian residents' stories about the war in the first person. Its archive contains more than 100,000 stories. Tell yours at https://civilvoicesmuseum.org/ or by calling the free hotline at 0 (800) 509 001.