What’s it like to grow up in Ukraine during the war? | Young and European

Kyiv is more than just the capital of Ukraine This city which unites a thousand-year history Wide empty streets and incredibly beautiful parks Several years ago Kyiv was recognized as Europe's greenest capital It greatly affects us because it changes our pace of life it alters our rhythm This changes the conditions under which we work Hello everyone My name is Anastasia I am 16 years old I was born and raised in Kyiv I'm a high school senior So let me show you my version of Kyiv Good morning I'm inviting you to come home to me Welcome to my home Well then let's go Right now we can head down the hallway and come into the kitchen This is my dad say hello Here meet everyone Oh my God look at her she's still trying to sleep It's just a button She really loves to sleep Well then now we move on to my favorite spot in the apartment Surely this is my room Usually in the morning I wake up And right away I sit down at the table to finish my homework Because during the day I don't even have time to sit down and start the assignment For instance I already did chemistry this morning I absolutely love Venice I've been to Venice and I've visited many countries And I usually capture some emotion after every trip or some place that I liked the most Anastasia lives in the court district of Kyiv in the town of Terebkiv She can walk to school in under ten minutes I'm truly happy that I can go to school I have this opportunity because our school has a shelter And during air raids we go down there our school has two shelters Nearly 1 500 children in Ukraine must find out from the house because their schools lack air raid shelters Anastasia started school at the age of eleven Now in the final year she's about to reach the finals We're now entering the biology classroom We'll be doing a hands-on lab activity right now Meet my classmates And this is my biology teacher Ms Svitlana who will be conducting the practical session Since the war began it hasn't been easy to focus on studios Bomb alerts struck fear throughout the school We must organize ourselves and head to shelter out of fear If the alarm goes off during class we'll go out with our homeroom teacher If the alarm occurs during a class we will follow the teacher who is conducting the lesson Due to the war quite a few young me They're thinking of going to defend Ukraine And we have a very large number of graduates our high school those who went straight after finishing school Defend Ukraine Right now we are actively helping them volunteering Even personally at our high school That's where classmates gather In the year 18 Ukrainian me They must report for basic military training But they cannot be mobilized until they are 25 years old After graduation Anastasia plans to study applied chemistry Every evening after school the day begins She went to the National Technical University of Ukraine In the lab she's working on her project Our first development e one I've been working on for two years surely this is a photo-bioreactor capable of purifying air and humidifying We use green algae specifically Chlorella vulgaris for this purpose which absorb CO2 She hopes what her filtering system might help w Enhance the quality of video production in Kyiv University mentor Helps Anastasia with her project which has already won several competitions When Anastasia wants to go downtown she takes the subway This is the most popular transport mod in Kyiv But since the war began Her underground tunnels took on a new meaning for 3.5 million residents of the city Shelter from rocket attacks which can last up to three hours For four years People can sleep here they can eat here They even have their own spots here Everyone is drawn to Kyiv's bustling hub Students businessmen—everyone And they're fleeing from Kyiv City Council too grabbing the Kyiv city pigeon Because it's incredibly tasty quick and can be eaten on the go whenever you're rushing somewhere One moment to the next take her and savor every bite Parks are really cool and modern Teenagers love to hang out almost constantly because it's free because the scenery here is beautiful because there are cafes here Where to enjoy a delicious cup of coffee Of course this combination may seem quite unusual to Europeans After all not every European sees armored vehicles But for us Ukrainians it is history Hi Meet my best friend Dasha We're participating together We work on various projects and write scientific papers Statistically Ukrainians aged 16 to 27 spend the most time reading And half of all Ukrainians say they enjoy reading According to 43% of all European citizens Half of her former students plan to Travel to Ukraine and relax in other countries Anastasia is not one of them Well then thank you for spending this day with me They descended into the atmosphere of the city of Kyiv and saw it with their own eyes I've known him since he was born Dad