These are illustrated memories of four people who endured one of the darkest moments of Russia's war on Ukraine.

A house is standing. Then, in a single blast, it is gone.With no water to drink, people collect trickles from rain gutters.A knock on the door. Russian soldiers ask one another, “Should we shoot him?”It was a normal day in Mariupol when the first shells began to fall in late February. People were hurrying about their business. Within a week, Russian troops had surrounded the city. Water was the first to go, then electricity and cell service. When heating was cut off, cold and terror gripped those who remained.Life became suffering.USA TODAY interviewed four survivors from Mariupol, who shared their experience through interviews.Of the four, one provided extensive photographic evidence of the suffering there. Others said they had deleted the contents of their phones as they escaped, in order to avoid detection.The Ukrainians’ last names have been withheld at their request to protect relatives and neighbors who may still be in Mariupol. The scenes here are based on their provided images, their recollections, and independent research.But the stories, translated from their native language, are retold in their own words.In one basement, people huddle together, unable to sleep – sometimes from the frigid temperatures, sometimes because they’re starving. In another, children begin to die of thirst.The lucky ones, those able to leave, drive past the bodies on the ground, past shattered lives and shuttered houses. A Russian soldier offers a chocolate bar to people who have nothing left, who left everything behind.And as the springtime sun arrives and the ground begins to thaw, neighbors who stayed start to bury their dead.