Thirteen-year-old Mariia Mushka from Druzhkivka, Donetsk region, writes poetry about the war. Her lines are a real chronicle of pain: “I lost my smile in those ruins”. Each word is the experience of a girl who learnt to distinguish between the sounds of explosions too early.

The girl admits: sometimes it is difficult to understand whether a car has passed outside the window or a shell is flying by. She tries to tire herself out during the day so that she can fall asleep easier at night. Poetry has become her way of not only surviving her fear but also giving it a voice.

Mariia dreams of seeing the Sea of Azov again, walking in the parks of Kramatorsk, learning English and travelling. She believes that she will be able to put her happiness together “piece by piece”, as she writes in her poems, and keep her dream stronger than the war.

Mariia’s story was told as part of the “Peaceful Rest for Children of Ukraine” programme in Zakarpattia, organised by the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation.