On the day the missile landed in her garden, Yulia Kozyreva was standing in the kitchen of her country house. The shockwave blew her and her husband, Mikola, through the terrace doors. A few meters more and it would have killed them.

Eleven days later, Mikola died in the ring.

It was the duo’s final trick — the moment Mikola always danced a solo waltz with Lady, a white tigress. But the blast wave had jarred loose a clot in his heart. As he danced, it broke free, blocking an artery. He collapsed in front of the audience.

They had met in a café in Russia in 1998. It was love at first sight. Together they built a life and a tiger act.

Little people trying to survive

The day after he died, she was back in the ring, performing on her own. “I promised him,” she said, “the show would go on.

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