"Everyone experienced the beginning of the war in their own way, but for me, it meant missing out on student life,"
"In my first year, I was able to make new friends,"
"We formed a tight-knit group, sat together in classrooms, bought each other sweets, shared smoke breaks with professors, debated ideas, and dreamed together."
"After the start of the full-scale invasion, none of my friends returned to university. They all left, and there was no more opportunity to build new connections. That affected me for several years."
Yulia Berg spent most of her university years during wartime, graduating in May 2025 with a degree in international relations while sometimes hearing missiles near her apartment. University campuses implemented new safety measures including air raid drills, emergency evacuation apps, and evacuation procedures. Student social life fractured as many peers fled the country, reducing opportunities to form friendships and participate in campus community activities. The conflict forced school-aged Ukrainians to confront violence, displacement, and changing expectations about education. Many students reconsidered the role of civic life and education amid ongoing insecurity and mass migration.
Read at Truthout
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]