Irina Krynina departed from Russia in September 2023, leaving behind her apartment in Krasnoyarsk, her car, and her job as an accountant. She packed her bags, took her two daughters, aged seven and ten, and set off for Ukraine to visit her partner Yevgeny Kovtkov in Ukraine. Kovtkov, who is not the biological father of her children, had been fighting for Russia against the Ukrainian army when he was captured.

She booked a flight to Turkey, flew from there to Moldova, and then journeyed on to Kyiv. She received logistical support from a helpline operated by Ukraine's defense intelligence service, the HUR. Named "I Want to Live" (Khochu zhit), the helpline was originally set up for Russian soldiers opting to surrender. Krynina used the service to locate her partner, and travel to Ukraine to find him. She was the first in this war to attempt such a thing.

In an interview with DW, she said she had known very little about Ukraine until 2022, but had been against the annexation of Crimea back in 2014. But it was only in 2023, when her partner was sent to the Donetsk region to fight and was soon after taken prisoner that she started reading up about the war.

"When I realized what was really happening, I didn't want to stay in Russia........

© Deutsche Welle