Illia Kovalov from Kharkiv remembers the spring of 2022 well. His family lived in Saltivka, a neighbourhood that has been one of the main targets of russian shelling since the first days of the war. To escape, they moved to his grandmother’s house. It turned out to be dangerous there too: a tank school was located nearby, which became a target for air strikes.

One day, the bombing lasted for hours. The explosions were so powerful that the boy experienced severe stress. And then he saw strands of grey hair in the mirror. “I had bangs on my side, and when I lifted them up, there were white strands,” he recalls of the aftermath of his experience. 

After that night, the family decided to leave Kharkiv and move to Poltava. It was only two years later that the family returned home. 

Illia also experienced a loss – his grandfather died in Kupiansk during the occupation. The boy recalls how he used to shudder at every sharp sound and scream in his sleep for a long time.

At the time of the interview, Illia was 15. He lives in Kharkiv, plays the electric guitar and dreams of starting his own band. He says that music helps him to escape the memories of the war and find new friends.

He told his war story during the “Peaceful Rest for Children of Ukraine” programme, organised by the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation.