You Dont Know What War Is?

 By: Yeva Skalietska

Location: NF 920 SKA WAR

Genre: Ukraine War- Memoir- Diary

“Everyone knows the word war. But very few people understand

what it truly means. You might say that it’s horrible and frightening,

but you don’t know the scale of fear it brings. And so, when you

suddenly have to face it, you feel totally lost, walled in by fright

and despair. All of your plans are suddenly interrupted by

destruction. Until you’ve been there, you don’t know what war is.”

An important, harrowing, and ultimately hopeful memoir about the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian war as told through the diary entries of a young Ukrainian girl.

Yeva Skalietska’s story begins on her twelfth birthday in Kharkiv, where she has been living with her grandmother since she was a baby. Ten days later, the only life she’d ever known was shattered. On February 24, 2022, her city was suddenly under attack as Russia launched its horrifying invasion of Ukraine. Yeva and her grandmother ran to a basement bunker, where she began writing this diary. She describes the bombings they endured while sheltering underground, and their desperate journey west to escape the conflict raging around them. After many endless train rides and a prolonged stay in an overcrowded refugee center in Western Ukraine, Yeva and her beloved grandmother eventually find refuge in Dublin. There, she bravely begins to forge a new life, hoping she’ll be able to return home one d