🇺🇦🇷🇺 MARIA WAS 11. SHE DIED BESIDE HER MOTHER AND LITTLE SISTER IN MARIUPOL. Maria Amelchakova was hiding in the basement of an apartment building in Mariupol, Ukraine 🇺🇦, on March 22, 2022. Beside her were her mother Angela, her eight-year-old sister Sofia, and her friend Yelyzaveta. An airstrike brought the building down. All four were killed beneath the rubble. Maria loved dancing. Her family remembers a bright, kind and talented girl who was constantly moving, surrounded by friends and always looking after her younger sister. She was only 11. Sofia was eight and loved theatre. Their mother Angela was 35. They were not soldiers. They were a mother and two children hiding underground while Mariupol was being devastated during Russia’s 🇷🇺 invasion. Maria should have grown up dancing. Sofia should have kept performing on stage. Angela should have watched both of them become adults. Instead, March 22, 2022 became the last day of all three lives.