“I don’t give darkness or war a chance to change me”
A final year school student from Kharkiv region who found strength in herself, her dreams and music during the war
- Українська
- English
When Veronika thinks back to the first days of the full-scale war, she remembers a frightened little girl, unsure whether tomorrow would come at all, for herself, her family, or her hometown of Zlatopil in Kharkiv region. That girl could not imagine the strong, thoughtful young woman she would become four years later.
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“My mum was reading the news on her phone, my dad urgently sent us to relatives in western Ukraine,” Veronika recalls. “It felt like my life was put on pause. There were so many questions and no answers. Even breathing felt hard.”
Today, Veronika is a 16-year-old top-performing student in her final year at Zlatopil Lyceum. She plans to become a medical professional, plays piano at award-winning level, performs in her own rock band and volunteers in her community. Most importantly, she says, she is a source of support for her mother and friends.
“The war took so much from my family,” she says. “My plans, our sense of safety, our home as it used to be - all of that stayed in the past. But I don’t let darkness take over. My creativity, music and my friends help me resist it. And my dream keeps me going - to help people and make life a little easier in these difficult times.”
A dream to save lives
Every winter, Veronika decorates a Christmas tree a few days before New Year. This year, the artificial tree almost reaches the ceiling.
“This was the last gift from my dad,” she says quietly. “Before the war, we always had real trees. But two years ago, he said we should buy an artificial one, so Mum and I could set it up ourselves if he wasn’t around. That’s what happened. The tree was delivered and shortly after, he was killed in shelling.”
She carefully adjusts her favourite ornament — a small golden samovar that once belonged to her father.
“I lost the most important person in my life,” Veronika says. “My guide. The one who showed me the way. Now I understand that everything he told me as a child connects to who I am becoming. He believed in me and now I have to find that strength on my own.”
Before her father’s death, Veronika planned to leave school after Year 9 and study medicine in Kharkiv. She was even accepted into a medical college on a state-funded place. But the war changed those plans.
Due to ongoing shelling, education in Kharkiv is mostly online. Veronika decided to stay with her class, continue blended learning and later apply to a university in western Ukraine, where it is safer.
“In a way, she gave herself two more years of childhood,” her mother, Marina, says with a gentle smile.
For Veronika, staying at home and at school brought stability.
“I hold on to my class and my people,” she explains. “I kept thinking — how could I leave all this behind?”
Veronika only truly reassessed the value of everyday learning within a close-knit class after the war began. “Now I really understand how much we all went through together, how often we supported one another, how many shared trips and memories we had. It’s frightening to imagine that all of this could have been taken from us in just one night,” Veronika says, recalling the morning of February 24 four years ago.
Now she is preparing for national exams, attending catch-up classes at her lyceum supported by UNICEF, and studying with tutors.
“In-person learning really matters to me,” she says, gesturing to stacks of notebooks on her desk. “It’s the way to make my dream real — to help people, to save lives. I’m happy when people around me are happy.”
Music that heals
When Veronika isn’t studying, she lives through music. Her piano awards could fill an entire room, but for her, music is not about achievements.
“When my dad died, I barely left the piano,” she says. “I poured everything into the keys — pain, grief, tears. Over time, the music helped me transform those feelings.”
She has studied at music school for eight years. Her teacher, Iryna Anatoliivna, calls her deeply dedicated and resilient.
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“Even during online learning, she never gave up music,” the teacher says. “Live performances were taken away from our children by the war. That’s why it’s so important that music school is working again.”
Beyond classical music, Veronika recently founded an all-girls rock band called Eustoma. She plays electric guitar and performs covers of well-known Ukrainian bands.
“My red guitar chose me,” she laughs. “Like a magic wand.”
The band has become another source of strength and friendship.
“I release everything dark through creativity,” Veronika says. “And what comes out is often light. That light pushes the darkness away. I don’t give it a chance to change me.”
