A Ukrainian make-up artist recognized one of the civilian victims found on the streets of the city of Bucha because of the woman’s flawless nail design, announced this Wednesday in “The New York Times” (6).

The location caught the world’s attention last weekend when Kyiv troops regained control of the city after weeks of Russian occupation. In the images released, the bodies of hundreds of civilians were dumped on the streets and mass graves were found in parks. Ukraine accuses Moscow of committing war crimes in Bucha, but says Kremlin troops “never killed civilians in the country”.

As the footage was circulated by Ukrainian media and social media, makeup artist Anastasiia Subacheva told the NYT she felt “his heart was starting to break” when she saw a picture of a hand with red nails.

“A hand she saw many times during makeup classes holding a brush or lipstick or applying foundation or eyeshadow,” the newspaper said. It was 52-year-old Iryna Filkina, who worked in a heating company, but dreamed of becoming popular and increasing her followers on Instagram.

In February, a few days before the invasion began, Filkina reached Subacheva to take makeup lessons “to look more beautiful and fashionable.”

“I finally understood the most important thing: you need to love yourself and live for yourself. In the end, I will live the way I want,” the makeup artist said, recalling one of her conversations with her client.

The makeup artist told “NYT” that she had lived in Bucha for nearly five years and knew many of the victims of the massacre. However, with the outbreak of war, he fled with his family to Kropyvnytskyi.

The American publication also contacted Irina’s daughter, Olha Shchyruk, who said her mother had not shown any signs of life for about a month until the photos came to light.

Shchyruk, who also fled in the first days of the war, said that on March 6, he learned from eyewitnesses that his mother had been killed with a gunshot wound while riding her bike from work the day before. He explained that he had hopes of seeing Filkina alive, even if she did not receive information for a month.

“I understand that this is impossible because he hasn’t contacted me for about a month. But a child will always be waiting for his mother,” he told the newspaper.

Late on Friday, Shchyruk said he received a video of his mother lying on the floor and a picture of her hand. “Even if she hadn’t had her nails done, I would have known it was my mother,” he added to “NYT”, reporting that he was trying to find Filkina’s body for a proper burial.