Ukraine Chapter

With the New Year just around the corner, Teens4Disarment wanted to close our 2023 with a more personal interview. On December 31, 2023, Teens4Disarmament had an unique opportunity to speak with Dasha, an especially determined and intelligent 15-year-old girl who lives in the capital of Ukraine, Kyiv. Dasha currently attends secondary comprehensive school No. 279. Under very difficult circumstances 6500 miles away, our interview took place through Zoom for approximately 30 minutes. Although we wished the interview could last longer, an unforeseen event occurred before we could finish the interview, leaving us silent for a long while. 

The interview began at 9:00 am sharp as we were all very anxious to finally meet Dasha. We couldn’t help but feel slightly nervous about how to carry out our dialogues due to our language barrier.  But fortunately our dance teacher, Makysm Kapitanchuk, was kind to agree to be our translator for this interview.

Our interview began with a direct and heart-wrenching question: “How does it make you feel living under constant nuclear threat and air attack?” 

Dasha thought to herself for a minute and responded with melancholy, “I feel distressed and suffering. On a regular basis, I hear bombs and rockets in the sky. I am constantly scared, feeling helpless in my situation. When normal people hear a plane, it sounds perfectly normal. But when I hear a plane, I remember the thousands of Ukrainians who died and it messes with my mind.”

Feeling Dasha’s fear and frustration, we asked her, “If you could do one thing about this war, what would you do?”

Spoken with assertion and strength, Dasha insisted that Vladimir Putin should account for his actions and end the usage of physical threats. “Putin needs to be responsible for his actions and crimes. There is never a legitimate reason for the creation of nuclear weapons or mass destructive weapons. Once you drop a bomb, there is no turning back. The fact is, Putin can never be fully responsible for his actions; the catastrophe caused by these weapons is irreversible.” 

Everyday, Ukraine is under the fear of nuclear threats from Russia, and the risk of a nuclear war is ever so high. Dasha added, “This war has been going on for over two years, and everyone is feeling fatigued. We all need to collaborate and stop Russia.” Teens4Disarmament echoes Dasha’s opinion and wishes all countries around the world would stop using nuclear threats and military weapons as a leverage to hurt other countries. Nuclear weapons need to be eliminated from this world; we must join forces and do all we can to prevent any more deaths and suffering from all these mass destructive weapons. 

As soon as we were about to ask another question, Dasha suddenly dropped out of the Zoom and went offline. Concerned, we texted her and waited for her situation. Later on we found out there was an alarming alert about an incoming bomb attack in Dasha’s area, and she had to hurry out and hide in a nearby shelter. Dasha could not even say goodbye to us before she once again had to cower from Russia’s air attacks.

Teens4Disarmament interviewed Dasha to share the indescribable fear of nuclear war and the humanitarian consequences of the usage of mass destructive weapons. Together, Dasha and Teens4Disarmament will collaborate to educate the youth about the horrible consequences of nuclear weapons in our areas. Thank you Dasha for dedicating your time to speak with us; we hope this war will end soon, and you and your family are safe.