Karyna is eleven years old. She was born and lived in Orikhiv, Zaporizhzhia, but the war has taken away everything familiar and safe from her. When the explosions began to sound closer and closer, her father said: “We have to leave immediately!” The family moved to Zaporizhzhia, but even there, the night is never quiet – the shelling continues almost every day. The apartment in Orikhiv was burnt down after a shell hit. Her mother showed Karyna a video of the ruined apartment block, and she has been carrying this pain in her heart ever since. Her dad is now at the front, and the girl worries about him every day. She always has Barni by her side, a smart dog who knows fifteen commands. He jumps on the wall, gives his “voice”, and is happy to hear the word “eat”. But when the shelling starts, Barni trembles. Karyna takes him in her arms, holds him close, listens to his heartbeat and calms him down: “He’s like a cloud. He’s soft. And it’s so calm with him.”

Karyna’s story was recorded during her participation in the Peaceful Rest for Children of Ukraine project organised by the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation.