For Alisa Davydenko, the word “routine” has a completely different meaning than for her peers in relatively peaceful cities of the country. Her everyday life is living under the sounds of explosions and the buzzing of “Shaheds.” Sumy prepares every evening for enemy night attacks: at 8:00 p.m. begins the anxious waiting — what will reach the city today, what will be shot down.

Alisa says that in the city people have learned to live with a ready “emergency bag” and a full tank in the car. Documents, warm clothes, dried fruits — all of this is prepared, in the hallway. The war has taught this. The girl remembers how in the first months there was no fuel at gas stations, and her family had to ask acquaintances for gasoline.

When she wants to buy clothes or something necessary, she has to go to Kyiv. In Sumy, stores do not operate during air raids. Schooling takes place online — school basements cannot accommodate thousands of children. The friendly class that used to film TikToks with millions of views now meets once a month, if lucky.

Alisa has already tried twice to live abroad — after the beginning of the invasion she left for Poland, but always returned. “Only if there is russian occupation, then we will leave,” she says. Despite the risk, she stays at home.

Alisa told her story during the program “Peaceful Rest for the Children of Ukraine” in Zakarpattia, organized by the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation.