A fearful Ukrainian parent has scribbled the contact information of family members on her child in case they become orphaned.
Sasha Makoviy posted a photo showing how her daughter Vera's back was inked with details like her date of birth and the name of some of her relatives.
The heartbreaking image illustrates the shocking reality of living in the middle of a war and how some parents realise they might not make it out alive.
"[This is] Vera's back on the first day of the war," Makoviy said in a social media post.
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"I signed it with my hands trembling very much. But why [do I] tell you? [So you] know what it's like to wake up to the deafening and powerful sounds of explosions that can be heard for tens of kilometres."
The 33-year-old artist explained that she wrote the information on her two-year-old 'in case something happened to us, and someone would pick her up as a survivor'.
"Even a crazy thought flashed through my mind: 'why didn't I tattoo her with this information?'" she said.
The artist and her daughter successfully fled Russian bombardments, and they are now safe in France.
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Kyiv Independent journalist Anastasiia Lapatina shared Sasha's post on Twitter and lashed out at the European Union for 'discussing gas' and further sanctions for Russia as Ukrainians struggle to survive.
“Ukrainian mothers are writing their family contacts on the bodies of their children in case they get killed and the child survives,” she said.
This is one of many snippets of the brutal reality facing Ukrainians amid the Russian invasion
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The diary of a teenage girl has also made its way to social media and has chronicled the horrors she has endured.
Katya explained how she watched her mother die, how she lived with her body while hiding from Russian troops in a basement. The 16-year-old also tried to shield her little brother from the reality of their mother's death.
One of the saddest entries revealed what she will do if she manages to flee the war and grow up to have a family of her own.
“I want to die, but I can’t. … hug your kids," the diary reads.
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"Otherwise, you may be gone, and they will not remember your smell. If I endure and later have children, I will be hugging them all the time.”
If you would like to donate to the Red Cross Emergency Appeal, which will help provide food, medicines and basic medical supplies, shelter and water to those in Ukraine, click here for more information.
Featured Image Credit: Sasha Makoviy/Instagram
