Zla Mavka is an all-female Ukrainian non-violent resistance movement that emerged in the occupied city of Melitopol in early 2023. After Moscow’s all-out invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 three brave Ukrainian women decided that they had had enough of living under occupation. It was time to resist. The group is named Mavka after the female spirit from...

One of us draws very well, she created the first poster "The occupiers got it, don't make Ukrainian women angry." We started hanging it. The reaction was quick: the Russians got angry and immediately tore down the posters. There was no way to hang them on the administrative building: the center of Melitopol is almost closed, there are patrols everywhere, there are a lot of soldiers. That's why we hung them where we could.

Not all residents of the occupied territories of Ukraine have access to the true news of Ukraine and the world. Our Mavky launched a weekly newspaper with real news, which is distributed in the occupied cities. Yes, the Mavkas are fighting against Russian propaganda, with which the occupiers are trying to poison our people.

On the eve of March 8, "word of mouth" worked, and the previous action attracted a lot of attention. We knew that before March 8, the occupiers would give flowers to women on the streets, near shops: here, hold one tulip, hold a humanitarian flower. Even when March 8 had long passed, the girls continued to print the postcard "I don't want flowers, I want my Ukraine" and stick it in their cities. Actively joined our Telegram channel. The first was Berdyansk and the small towns around Melitopol, but I consider my victory the moment when the first girl from...