Viktoriya felt tense and scared as she walked past the groups of Russian soldiers, who watched her through their gun sights.
Alongside the young photographer were hundreds of fellow Kherson residents, holding up Ukrainian flags, singing the national anthem and yelling at the Russians that "they must go home".
One of the protesters jumped onto a tank, waving the yellow and blue flag.
Viktoriya told the ABC she joined the protest despite her fear to send a "clear and simple" message to the soldiers occupying her city.
Residents of the cities taken and held by the invading forces have revealed what life is like under Russian occupation, where the supermarket shelves are bare and masked foreign soldiers roam the streets.
Kherson, a port city in Ukraine's south, was the first major city to fall to the Russian forces in early March and has been occupied by them since.
Viktoriya, who did not want to provide her full name because she feared for her safety, said life was difficult in the city with only about a quarter of residents still working.
Living in Kherson meant Russian propaganda playing on television and being stopped by Russian soldiers in the street to engage in "friendly small talk" about her political position, she said.
"Almost everything" had doubled in price, and finding essential goods like pads and diapers was hard, she said.
"About once a week a Russian truck distributes food in one of the squares," she said.
"In the beginning, while there was food and money left, no-one took their humanitarian aid.
She said her husband was able to continue working online, but she had lost her job.
"It could be difficult, but we only spend money on food," she said.
"Before the war we could buy clothes, travel, go to cinema or shows. Now we do not have any of these opportunities.
"Every day you just want to do some normal duty, you have a child and you just play with her, prepare food, go to the bathroom."
The residents of Nova Kakhovka, another southern Ukrainian city occupied by Russian forces since the start of the war, are also suffering from supply shortages.
Tatjana Melnik, a single mother of three young children in the city, said Russian forces would not let in Ukrainian trucks with goods.
"For two months we didn't have food and medicines, only in the last two weeks people began to bring goods from Crimea," the 37-year-old English teacher said.
Ms Melnik said there were not many volunteers left in the city now, and most humanitarian aid was being provided by Russia.
However, she said the aid was not free for residents.
"There are people who get it and they sell it to people," she said.
"Food, sugar, cigarettes, they are so expensive now, it is unreal to find Ukrainian products.
Ms Melnik said there were few cars travelling on the streets, and people on foot avoided straying far from their homes.
"They [soldiers] walk around the town with guns. They talk to civilians and say they save us."
She said a friend asked one of the soldiers why they came to Ukraine and he said he did not know.
"Shops and cafes started working from mid-April," she said.
"Some people go and eat there, try to continue their living, but not so much as usual."
Living in fear
Ms Melnik said she felt a "big fear" constantly as she saw Russian soldiers "everywhere", searching civilian houses for Ukrainian soldiers or wandering on the streets in groups.
Russian forces have been accused of rape and other forms of sexual violence against Ukrainian women, children and men in other occupied cities, such as Bucha and Irpin.
"Sometimes I feel how they try to undress me with their eyes," she said.
"I'm so afraid they can do anything they want with me and my daughters.
Ms Melnik said she tried to avoid leaving the house and never travelled very far away.
The Russians often careered around dangerously in cars painted with the "Z" symbol, without any regard for speed limits or safety, she said.
On the way home from the market with her girls one day, she said she saw a group of "about 20 Russian soldiers with black masks and big guns" running towards a park with "old ladies and mums with children".
"I was so afraid," she said.
"They could shoot us. I changed our way and turned into the yard between houses. When we ran home I cried a lot and felt bad myself.
"It is hard to see terrorists in your town."
Ms Melnik said she wanted to leave Nova Kakhovka but she could not afford transport — it would cost 30,000 hryvnia ($1,425) for her and her three children to travel to Mykolaiv.
She added there was no guarantee they would be safe on the trip and she was worried about being attacked by Russian forces in Ukrainian-controlled territory.
"I understand that they [my children] will have no chance to feel free and be happy under Russian occupation… but it is a very hard decision to leave home and go somewhere without money," she said.
Avoiding forced conscription
Another concern for residents of the occupied cities is the potential to be forcibly recruited into the Russian army.
Two weeks before the invasion, pro-Russian Donetsk People's Republic leader Denis Pushilin ordered a "general mobilisation" of men in Donetsk to fight against Ukraine military forces.
Mari told the ABC her husband Nik hid in their home in the city of Donetsk for about six weeks.
"The mobilisation is everywhere, [at] bus stops, supermarkets, markets… cars were stopped and the military would take the driver to serve in the Russian army," she said.
The couple and their children eventually evacuated to Russia and then to Latvia with the help of friends.
Mari asked to remain anonymous, fearing the DPR government may harm her family or stop them from returning to Donetsk in the future.
"Literally, the fate of people who publicly said things against them [the DPR government] is unknown," she said.
'They don't know what to do with us'
According to Ukraine, more than 400 Ukrainians in Kherson city have been detained for their "fierce resistance" to Russian occupation.
Russian forces have used tear gas and stun grenades and firing warning shots to disperse the rallies.
Viktoriya told the ABC she had joined three protests so far.
Although she wanted to continue to show her opposition to the occupation, she also wanted to ensure her own safety for the future of her young child, she said.
"Every time it is a great decision," she said.
"The Russians ride around the Square of Freedom with loud speakers telling everyone that protests are not allowed, [saying] there will be use of weapons.
"[The Russian soldiers] are maybe also scared of us, because it's really too many people… they don't know what to do with us.
"Maybe they expected that we want to be a part of Russia and will meet them with flowers, but they met the protesting people who clearly told them that [Kherson] is Ukraine territory."
