War at 14

Yaryna Kovaliv thought she was just growing up in Ukraine. Then the war made her grow up faster.

Introduction

Before Russia’s full-scale invasion, Yaryna was just a normal teenager in Kyiv: school, friends, cafés, big plans.

Now her life is split in half: the safety of Canada, where she now lives, and the city where the people she loves still fall asleep to air-raid sirens.

At Youth4Truth, we don’t treat politics like theory. It’s lived reality: fear, resilience, and the decisions that change your entire life overnight.

This conversation with Yaryna isn’t about headlines or analysis. It’s about what war actually feels like when you’re young, ambitious, and suddenly forced to grow up way too fast.

The Interview

Q: Before the war, what was life like for you growing up in Kyiv?

Yaryna: Honestly, it was perfect. Kyiv is my favorite city in the world. Everything was there: friends, culture, food, school, freedom. I lived there until I was 13. Before the war, life felt normal and full.

Q: How did you and your family end up leaving?

Yaryna: Three days before it happened, we went to stay with my grandparents in western Ukraine. On February 24th at 5 a.m., we heard explosions. We packed in ten minutes and drove straight to the Polish border. We stayed there a month before my mom got a job offer in Canada. And that is how we ended up in Ottawa.

Q: You still have family and friends in Kyiv. What is daily life like for them now?

Yaryna: It is two different realities. By day, Kyiv feels almost normal. People go to school, work, cafés. By night, it becomes a different world: sirens, explosions, running to shelters. People sleep in basements, parking garages, or the metro. My parents are there now and they have been sleeping in shelters every single night.

Q: What is something most young people outside Ukraine get wrong about the situation?

Yaryna: That life has stopped completely. It hasn’t. Teens still go out, hang with friends, study, dream.But everything is layered with fear, stress, and exhaustion. You live your life but with trauma built in.

Q: What does Ukraine need the most right now, beyond weapons?

Yaryna: Beyond weapons, Ukraine needs several key things to stay stable and continue defending itself. First, it urgently needs stronger air defense and support for its energy system, which is constantly targeted and must be quickly repaired. Second, Ukraine relies on steady financial assistance to keep essential public services running and to avoid economic collapse. It also needs investment to rebuild damaged infrastructure so people can live and work safely. Humanitarian support remains vital, especially for displaced families and wounded soldiers. Finally, Ukraine needs long-term political and security guarantees from its partners to protect the country from future aggression and ensure a clear path toward a stable, secure future.

Q: Do young Ukrainians still have hope the war will end?

Yaryna: Yes, many young Ukrainians do still have hope that the war will end, but it’s a complicated and very mixed kind of hope.Most young people in Ukraine remain remarkably resilient. They want to study, work, travel, build careers, and plan their futures. That desire for a normal life keeps hope alive. They also see that Ukraine has strong international support and believe that their country will survive and rebuild. At the same time, the hope is often tired, cautious, and realistic. After years of full-scale war, many young Ukrainians feel uncertainty, stress, and frustration. Some worry about repeated mobilization waves, economic instability, or whether they will ever return to the kind of life they imagined.

Q: How do you see Zelensky as a leader?

Yaryna: I think he is a strong leader. Not perfect, but he stayed when he could have left, and that matters. He shows respect to the people fighting and suffering every day.

Q: What do you think the hardest part of rebuilding Ukraine will be?

Yaryna: The trauma. Eight million people left the country. Many want to return, but only when things feel stable again. And then there is the healing: kids, teenagers, soldiers, families.Rebuilding homes is easy. Rebuilding people is the hard part.

Q: Would you want to move back one day?

Yaryna: If I could, I’d go back tomorrow. I love Ukraine more than anything. But I have big ambitions, and with how unstable things are, I know I can’t reach them there right now. I want to study finance or economics, maybe in Europe or here in Canada.

Q: Last question. What should young people around the world understand about your generation in Ukraine?

Yaryna: That we are still living, still dreaming, still building futures even when everything feels uncertain. We don’t want pity. We want people to understand the reality, tell our stories, and not forget what is happening. Young people everywhere deserve to know the truth, not just the headlines.

Conclusion

War is usually explained by people who aren’t the ones hiding in basements or waking up to explosions. But the ones who live it every single day are often young.

Yaryna’s story is a reminder that youth aren’t bystanders.

They are the ones carrying the weight: the trauma, the dreams, the fear, the hope. What she shared isn’t just her experience. It is a warning and a request. Don’t look away.

Youth4Truth is a global youth network built to make stories like hers impossible to ignore. Honest, raw, and unfiltered. Because truth isn’t just what is happening on the world stage. It is what young people are living through right now.