When the full-scale war began, Kateryna was only 16. Her village, located just 45 kilometers from the russian border, found itself at the epicenter of the fighting — a strategic point that the enemy tried to seize and later ruthlessly attacked from the air. From the very first days — explosions, air raids, endless alarms. The sharpest echo was left by a plane that flew right over her head — a moment after which, as Kateryna admits, the fear of death disappeared.

However, at the same time, another impulse was born. Paradoxically, the war helped Kateryna take a step toward her dream — to enroll in the acting faculty. And today she sees in art not only a means of self-realization, but a tool for expressing trauma, a way to engage in dialogue with the world. Because when words are not just text, but the result of lived pain, they have the power to carry meaning. And to change.