Back in 2013, Viktoriia Tsymbaliuk felt the threat of war when the first news about the unrest in Crimea appeared. But she did not believe that a full-scale war could happen until the last moment. Even in January 2022, when everyone was talking about a possible russian attack, Viktoriia was convinced that this was impossible in the 21st century.

On February 23, 2022, she fell ill and stayed with her grandmother, which probably saved her from danger in Kyiv. The next day, the explosions came as a shock to her. She spent the first three weeks in front of the TV watching the news and lost a lot of weight due to stress.

Her grandmother didn’t have much food stored, and store shelves were already empty on February 25. It was a traumatic experience for her, and she always stocks up now. Despite all the difficulties, Viktoriia tries to keep faith in the best, but still finds it difficult to accept the reality of the war, which has been going on for almost three years.