Anna Kucheryna is a fourth-year student at Kyiv National University of Construction and Architecture, a future interior designer. Her thesis project — a design for a veterinary clinic — was inspired by her own experience of war: "Many animals were harmed, and we saw it with our own eyes."

At the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Anna and her family went to Nova Basan in the Chernihiv region, to her grandmother’s house, as they couldn’t leave her alone. But the village was quickly occupied. Russian soldiers took their phones, looted the house, and due to the lack of electricity and gas, the family had to move in with relatives who had a stove.

The most terrifying days were during the liberation of the village: the whole family spent almost an entire day in the cellar under intense shelling. "We went down into the basement again and waited. Until around midday, we heard — we had been liberated!"

Anna does not plan to leave the country. She wants to work in Ukraine — to help rebuild life.