War-Life Balance

When I was a child, I never imagined that there will be war in Europe, especially not in my neighbouring country. Even as an adult, I couldn’t quite picture what it means to live in a city at war. So in February 2025, on the third anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, I went to Kyiv.

I wanted to see with my own eyes what it means to live with war.

It turned out to be the most dangerous ten days of my life.

Every night, I tried to fall asleep at the sound of drone attacks. I whispered prayer and hoped I’d wake up the next morning.

Since the beginning of the war, air raid sirens in Kyiv have sounded 1,539 times, that means more than once a day. Every day. For three years. According to Mayor Vitali Klitschko, 210 civilians have been killed in the attacks, 11 of them children. Missiles and drones have hit over 1,200 residential buildings. Schools. Hospitals. Playgrounds. 

And yet, life continues.

What I learnt during these days is that humans adapt, even to war and terror. It's impossible to make sense of a war that’s taken tens of thousands of lives. But if the Ukrainian people didn’t try to live some version of a normal life, I think they would lose their minds.

So they wake up. They drink coffee. They go to work. They carry on, not because it’s safe, but because it’s the only way to live on.