They were not soldiers, activists or politicians. They were civilians, not used to war or how to deal with it.

They kept audio diaries that told a raw truth about loss, hope and even love.

Some packed up and left with their children while others remained in the eye of the storm.

Among them, a language teacher from Mariupol who did not know if her parents were still alive – and a model who was caught up in shelling in Chernihiv.

But what’s happened to them since?

File on 4 tries to trace them, to discover how their lives have changed in four months of war.

Reporter: Paul Kenyon

Producer: Hayley Mortimer

Editor: Carl Johnston