Ukrainian influencer, 18, reveals what a day is now like under invasion: ‘Is this how life should look?’
Dzvinka Hlibovytska spends parts of her days hiding from boming
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An 18-year-old influencer from Ukraine has documented her life under invasion as Russian troops continue to wage war against the country for the ninth day.
In a series of videos posted on TikTok two days ago, Dzvinka Hlibovytska showed glimpses of her life in Lviv.
On 24 February, Russian president Vladimir Putin launched a full scale military invasion of Ukraine. Russian troops are trying to capture capital Kyiv, while key cities such as Kharkiv, Odesa and Mariupol are on the brink of collapse due to missile strikes and bombings.
Kherson, a major urban Ukrainian centre, became the first city to fall on Thursday. Thousands have been killed or wounded in the past week, while at least a million people have fled Ukraine since the invasion began.
On Friday, Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which is the largest in Europe, fell after a fire caused by continuous shelling of buildings by Russian troops. Although the fire was put out in a few hours, it led to fears of a catastrophic nuclear disaster that would be “ten times larger than Chernobyl” disaster of 1986.
In one of her videos, Ms Hlibovytska chronicled her day from the moment she wakes up until she goes to sleep.
The video was captioned: “My day as a Ukrainian in Lviv during war. Is this really how my life at 18 should look like?”
She can be seen waking up, eating and getting dressed from 8am to 10am.
Between 10am and noon, she packs an emergency bag to take with her to a volunteer camp. She volunteers and sorts humanitarian aid from noon till nighttime.
At several points during her day, she has to take shelter from the incessant bombing.
A few other videos went into details about Ms Hlibovytska’s work at the volunteer camps.
Users on TikTok commented on her videos and expressed their support.
One user wrote: “We love you and stand with you. this shall pass. stay strong, you are very brave!”
“You really are the bravest people!!! Lots of love from Poland to all of you,” commented another user.
The Independent has a proud history of campaigning for the rights of the most vulnerable, and we first ran our Refugees Welcome campaign during the war in Syria in 2015. Now, as we renew our campaign and launch this petition in the wake of the unfolding Ukrainian crisis, we are calling on the government to go further and faster to ensure help is delivered. To find out more about our Refugees Welcome campaign, click here. To sign the petition click here. If you would like to donate then please click here for our GoFundMe page.
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