«Instead of our gymnasium, there were piles of stones that were still hot»

On the first day of the full-scale invasion, Viktoriia KUTS and her sisters found themselves in several of the hottest spots in the country - Kherson, Kharkiv, Irpin, and Viktoriia herself in Korotychi, near Kharkiv. On 24 February 2022, the sisterhood chat was red with disturbing news. Viktoriia's parents and her older sister and their family were under occupation in the Kherson region.

The situation in Korotychi became unbearable in early March. The Kuts family left for three months for a safer place. Upon returning home, Viktoriia was faced with another shock - a rocket hit the Gymnasium No. 81 in Kharkiv, where she worked as an English teacher. Piles of stones and burnt books were all that remained of the building.

In her story for the Museum of Civilian Voices, Viktoriia KUTS told about her parents' life under occupation, the Kherson watermelon and the worst days of the war. Viktoriya KUTS also became one of the winners of an essay competition held by the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation.