Pensioner Svitlana Oleksiivna, over two years ago — on March 4, 2022, encountered uninvited Russian occupiers in her native village of Novozlatopil, Zaporizhzhia region. The woman recalls that on that day, around 12 noon, the first column of military equipment entered the village. Soon, Russian troops set up checkpoints on both sides of the settlement and imposed a curfew. Since then, Svitlana Oleksiivna and her family have been constantly suffering from shelling.

On March 27, Svitlana went out of the house to visit her neighbors and take a walk. She recalls that at that time, the shelling stopped for a whole 40 minutes. She was already returning and opening the gate to her yard when she heard a few seconds of whistling and then an explosion. A shell landed in the corner of her house, five meters from the woman, as later confirmed, from a 152 mm caliber howitzer.

"Debris scattered in all directions. One piece hit me in the scapula, and another tore off a chunk of my leg. At the moment of the explosion, my husband was behind the house; he found me and carried me inside. His mother suffered a concussion, which later led to memory loss. After this shelling, my husband stutters and suffers from headaches."

The next day, Svitlana Oleksiivna's family left the occupied area for Zaporizhzhia. The interviewed woman reported that during March, at least three of her fellow villagers suffered serious injuries due to shelling. Additionally, Russian occupiers were shooting captured Ukrainian military personnel in the streets of Novozlatopil. In April, the occupiers began moving into abandoned houses and evicting local residents from their own homes. Novozlatopil remains under occupation.