SIXTEEN DAYS IN UKRAINE

THE FIRST GENERATION BORN AFTER UKRAINE WON INDEPENDENCE DOCUMENTS THE BEGINNING OF THE RUSSIAN INVASION.

- Yaroslav Druziuk, Alex Guzenko, Neil Hauer, Oz Katerji, Jack Losh, Bridget Read, Amelia Schonbek, Lila Shapiro, Laura Thompson, and Reeves Wiedeman.

BY (FIRST ROW) Anastasiia Mokhina, Aleksey, Viktoriia Khutorna, Petro Chekal, and Nasta and Leonid. (SECOND ROW) Daria Holovatenko, Danyil Zadorozhnyi, Mariia Shuvalova, Inna Zadorozhnaya, Victor Dobrovolskyi, Anastasia Kovalchuk, Julia Berdiyarova, and Victoria Vlasenko. (THIRD ROW) Anastasiia Viekua, Katya Vasiukova, Vika Zavhorodnia, Lisa Bukreyeva, Alexander, Roman Vydro, Markiian Matsiiovskyi, and Yasia Myroshnychenko. (FOURTH ROW) Masha Varnas, Liana Muradian, Vova Prylutskyi, Yehor Shatailo, Polina Polikarpova, Lesyk Yakymchuk, Svyatoslav Fursin, and Sana Shahmuradova.

CHAPTER 1

Petro Chekal, 20, a student in Kharkiv

On the TV at 5 a.m., Putin announced the beginning of the military operation, just—war. Here is Mitya, my brother, listening. This is a Russian TV channel, and they said it was a rescue mission. My grandparents watch Russian TV all the time, and for the first few days, they couldn’t believe it. And when they finally did believe it, they switched to Ukrainian TV.

“I BOUGHT FOUR BOTTLES OF WINE IN CASE WE NEED TO PREPARE MOLOTOV COCKTAILS”

FEB 23

Russian forces surround Ukraine on three sides. The U.S. warns that an invasion is imminent. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy declares a state of emergency.

Aleksey, 26, a printıng manager in Kyiv

I was standing with my friend on the Yurkovytsia Mountain, which overlooks the whole city, and we joked, “Just imagine— bombs are going to fall on Kyiv.”

Viktoriia Khutorna, 24, a tele vision journalist in Kyiv