The heating unit operator had contacted Ms. Subacheva in February to learn about the manicure, with the ambition of growing her Instagram account. She was excited to attend an upcoming concert by Ukrainian pop star Olya Polyakova. They last saw each other on February 23, the day before the Russian invasion, with Ms. Subacheva recalling saying, “My daughter, at an advanced age I finally understood the most important thing – you have to love yourself and to live for yourself. And finally, I will live as I want “. Ms Filkina’s death was confirmed to reporters by one of her daughters, Olga Shchyruk, who managed to leave Bucha after the start of the war. She said that on March 6, she learned that her mother had been shot the day before while returning home on a bicycle.
“A child will always be waiting for his mother”
Ms Shchyruk held out hope for a month that her mother might still be alive but heard nothing. “A child will always be waiting for its mother,” he wrote in the Telegram, adding that he was looking for Ms Filkina’s body to bury it. Scenes of corpses sweeping the streets and shallow graves in Bucha sparked outcry from world leaders this week and a new impetus for isolating Russia on the world stage. Images of the devastation in the cities around Kyiv emerged after a Ukrainian counterattack forced the Russians to retreat to the east, where they are now preparing for a new offensive.
