“We only think about today, because you never know if you will wake up tomorrow”: In conversation with Anna Andruseiko on life in Ukraine

Anna Andruseiko is 23 years old with a degree in Cultural Studies, currently working as a programme manager at the ЗMIN Smith Foundation, where she supports NGOs and a wide range of projects – from cultural initiatives to military aid. Anna is from Stryi, a small town in the west of Ukraine. Nearly half of her life has been shaped by the war that started in 2014.

This year, I took a module on Ukrainian history from the Middle Ages to the present day. My seminar tutor set up a call with students from the Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU) to gain a deeper insight into life in Ukraine. I had the privilege of chatting with Anna about her life in Ukraine, common misconceptions about the nation, and her hopes for the future.

We began by discussing Anna’s childhood and life before the full-scale invasion. “My childhood was full of everything from mountains to sea. My parents really liked to travel and I was privileged to explore different parts of Ukraine. Each region has its own mentality and traditions,” Anna shared. However, when Anna was 12 years old, the Revolution of Dignity began. Practically half of her life has been defined by war, making it hard to remember a life before.

Now, we only think about today because you never know if you will wake up tomorrow

Anna Andruseiko

After finishing school, Anna took a gap year to study at the Ukrainian Leadership Academy – an unusual choice, as most Ukrainians feel pressure to follow the traditional education path. This way of thinking is a remnant of Soviet values, although Anna said she is beginning to see a shift, with more young people opting for an unconventional route. Supported by her parents, Anna thoroughly enjoyed her time at the academy learning how to become a leader and take charge of her own future. Before the war, Anna used to dream about life in the future. “Now,” she said, “we only think about today because you never know if you will wake up tomorrow.”

I asked Anna about her memories of 24 February 2022, and her life during the early days of the invasion. “In 2020, there had been Covid, which we didn’t fully recover from. Many people were exhausted, and we had only just started coming back to life. And then, the full-scale invasion started.”

Anna recalled that some people had anticipated a Russian attack, but she hadn’t taken this seriously. “I thought that they just wanted to scare us, which they did often. I couldn’t believe that they could do this.” She continued: “I remember I woke up around nine, and my roommate told me the war had started. They attacked cities all over Ukraine, and I didn’t know what was happening.

“That 30-minute walk to university was extremely scary because the sirens went off all around, people were in nearby supermarkets trying to withdraw cash, and everyone was rushing somewhere, and no one really knew what was happening. I remember the first time I called all my friends and family to check if they were okay, how they felt, and if they were in a safe place. Some of my friends had been in Kyiv, and some of my family lived in Dnipro which is very close to the frontline.”

There was a shared understanding Ukrainians must ‘unite in order to survive’

“It was extremely scary but with the support from the administration of my university, my teachers, and my groupmates, I never felt alone.” This sense of community continued in the following weeks and months, enabling resources and humanitarian aid to be quickly gathered and given to the front line. Anna felt “this unity was all around”, describing it as an “extremely precious feeling”. I wondered if this collective unity was new. Anna responded: “I think it’s completely new. In the first few days, there was a really rare, eternal feeling that we are one thing, one nation.”

Sharing her experience of volunteering, Anna discussed how this unity manifested with people she had never met before. Whenever someone needed something, no questions were asked. There was a shared understanding that Ukrainians must “unite in order to survive”. “Of course, it’s exhausting,” she added, “but this chaotic volunteering evolved into a whole new culture and built a community with people you had never met.”

“I think that when you’re under threat and your life is under threat, then people tend to act really differently, and you never know how. I think this has shown that we can be united as a nation without questions, without having any biases, by uniting around one sense of idea: survival. That’s something unique and I think you can feel it just in ordinary life.”

Discussing the current situation in Ukraine and how her life changed in the past three years, Anna responded that: “Life has changed completely. Men cannot leave Ukraine. Lots of my friends went to the army. Some of them are not with us anymore. Basically, your whole routine changed.”

It’s really difficult to accept that life will never be the same as it was before. Once you accept that as a fact, then your life really changes, I would say, in a better way, because you do not reject this responsibility for the future. By accepting it, then you manage to carry on

Anna Andruseiko

Anna was in her second semester when the full-scale invasion began and studies did not fully resume until three months later. Initially, like many others, she thought that the war would be over in a few months. “It’s really difficult to accept that life will never be the same as it was before. Once you accept that as a fact, then your life really changes. I would say, in a better way, because you do not reject this responsibility for the future. By accepting it, then you manage to carry on.”

Despite all the setbacks she has faced, Anna has looked for the positives with the war affording her a new outlook on life. “We had energy shortages and didn’t have electricity and basic resources. When you don’t have these things, you really realise how precious this stuff is, how precious these minutes are with people you love, how important it is to make the right decisions and to not postpone your life. You need to do what you want to do today because tomorrow may not come.”

Our conversation turned to focus on the common misconceptions that Anna had heard about Ukraine from foreigners. “The first one I often hear is that Ukraine is a small country,” Anna said. “I had an opportunity to study in the Netherlands in 2022 for half a year and the Netherlands is a really small country in comparison to Ukraine. Sometimes, when my friends in the Netherlands read news about Ukraine, they couldn’t understand how Russian troops can get lost in some fields or in some cities.”

The most harmful stereotype, she added, is that Ukraine is a part of Russia and they are like ‘brother nations’. Anna often finds people mistakenly assume she is Russian

“Ukraine is extremely large and we have so many things. Sometimes, you need to go to several countries to see what you can see in Ukraine because we have mountains, we have sea, we also have the desert.” By understanding that Ukraine has such a diverse landscape, we can begin to understand the variations in culture and tradition across the nation. Different regions are influenced by different countries and have their own way of life. “We do not reject these differences. That’s the true beauty of our nation.”

The most harmful stereotype, she added, is that Ukraine is a part of Russia and they are like “brother nations”. Anna often finds people mistakenly assume she is Russian.

“You’re just ‘one of the countries’ in Eastern Europe and that’s probably Russia because it’s the most powerful one. The Ukrainian language actually has more similarities with Polish and Belarusian than with Russian,” Anna explained. “Russia has a huge budget for culture and sharing these misconceptions.”

After hearing about these misconceptions, I wondered how Anna felt about Ukraine’s portrayal in foreign media and which aspects of news coverage currently lacks. Anna noted the importance of context: checking the source’s country of origin, a determining factor for whether they portray events in Ukraine in a trustful and truthful way.

Anna pointed out that the myth that Ukraine is small is perpetuated by foreign media. Articles would mistakenly write about Russians travelling from one part of Ukraine to another in a few hours when, in reality, it would be impossible to reach those parts so fast. Anna explained that this misinformation can arise from having one journalist responsible for a whole region of countries, “Ukraine is just ‘one of those’ Eastern European countries.”

She was also critical of the media’s victimisation of Ukraine and the suggestion that they are not really independent. “If you read some older news articles about Ukraine, they would say ‘the Ukraine’ suggesting Ukraine is a colony. This was really strange, but it shows the influence of Russian propaganda from hundreds of years ago.” Ukraine has put a lot of resources and effort into preventing disinformation in the media space. “We had a huge informational campaign called ‘Kyiv not Kiev’’, because, in the English language, when you spell the Ukrainian capital usually people write it Kiev, but that’s the Russian translation.”

Anna stressed that foreign media cannot provide all the information, so it is up to us to recognise clickbait headlines and contextualise the news we read. To do this, Anna recommended the page United 24 which always tries to be the first to translate the news to English. Ukraine has made an effort over the past three years to translate everything into English, including the President’s social media. Anna noted that it is always better to check the original sources.

Everyone is one drop in the ocean, but the ocean consists of drops, each with its own role. Then together, we create the ocean

Anna Andruseiko

As our conversation neared its end, we discussed Anna’s hope for the future and the next generation of Ukrainians. She stressed the importance of remaining hopeful: “I really like how Ukrainians never say, ‘if Ukraine wins’. Instead we say, ‘when Ukraine wins’.” Anna reflected on her time at UCU and the Leadership Academy which taught her that the future is in the hands of young Ukrainians. “That’s a huge responsibility when you’re 20 years old and someone says you need to change this country if you want to live in a better country. And it’s hard to accept this responsibility.” This war has shown that “freedom cannot be taken for granted but we can fight for our freedom because we have done this for centuries.”

Anna emphasised that everyone in Ukraine plays a part in shaping the future: “Everyone is one drop in the ocean, but the ocean consists of drops, each with its own role. Then together, we create the ocean.” Anna also expressed her excitement that Lviv is the European Youth Capital for 2025, presenting an opportunity to “build bridges with Europe and learn new practices as well as sharing what we know”. “War intensifies everything we do,” Anna said, “and something that would once take a few years now takes only a few months.”

The youth of Ukraine are forced to grow up fast, and I wondered how Anna is able to keep going and demonstrate such strength in the face of adversity. She responded: “We lost so many young people, and we now live for them. I lost my friend Yaryna Bazylevych who was killed by a Russian rocket at her home with two of her sisters and her mother, and only her father survived. She did so much in her 21 years which some people cannot accomplish in a lifetime. Now, we just make the projects she wanted to make, and we must make sure that her dreams come true.”

Finally, I asked Anna how students at the University of Warwick and across the UK can best support the people of Ukraine. Anna highlighted the importance of sharing information about Ukraine and Ukrainian culture from trusted news sources: “If we share something on social media, even if one person clicks on it and reads it that’s already an impact, and a huge one.” She added: “The war is not only on the front line, but it’s completely a hybrid war in the informational space and it’s hard to beat Russian propaganda and stereotypes because they have more money for them.” She also encouraged people to support fundraising initiatives as even the smallest donation can make a difference.

Anna truly is a testament to the strength and resilience of the Ukrainian people, showing courage in the darkest of times. In a final remark, Anna concludes: “Ukrainians really value the support from other countries and a sense of unity can help us through the darkest of times. But it’s not that Ukraine will just stop because we don’t have to support. We will never stop, and we’ll do it by our own hands.”