What seemed to be an impossible mission was the efforts and measures taken to promise the safety of Nastia Mitrofanova and Masha Sen chuck, two Ukrainian girls who were held for months in Russian captivity.
At first glance, these girls appear seemingly normal: girls you’d see at your school in the desk beside you, or girls you pass by on the street on a grocery run. Nastia and Masha had been through a lot, surviving the wrath of the Russian’s cruelty. Russian authorities had arranged a two-week trip to a Crimean resort intended to relieve people of the stress and pain of the war. Nastia and Masha both went on the trip without their parents’ approval and got signatures from other people. The two were excited for their getaway, “’Oh, great, we’ll see Crimea, we’ll have a rest.’” They spoke on a documentary.
However, that turned out to be a trap and resulted in the two being held in captivity for months, where they were pressured to become Russian citizens, abandon their native tongue, face verbal abuse and threats. In the documentary they recalled guards who threatened to “sew their mouths shut with black thread,” conditions were getting worse, but escaping was risky as their chances of being hurt or even killed were too high. As the days went by Nastia and Masha knew they had to escape; their plan was to make up a story in which they were attending a wedding and disguised the reporter in their phone as a family member. After passing security and various checkpoints they were free. The war in Ukraine is affecting more than just soldiers, its effect the lives of everyone, big and small.
