THIS INSIDE UKRAINE STORY IS FROM KYIV.

* All images and answers in the feature were provided by the WOW Woman, unless otherwise specified.

INSIDE UKRAINE SERIES: A SNAPSHOT, A DAY-IN-THE-LIFE, A GLIMPSE OF WHAT IT’S LIKE TO LIVE, RESIST, SURVIVE AND PERSEVERE IN A NATION UNDER ATTACK.

GLORY TO THE UKRAINIAN WOW WOMEN, FOR SUPPORTING THEIR COUNTRY AND BRINGING UKRAINE CLOSER TO VICTORY.

As I read social media posts by Ukrainian teens and 20-somethings, I alternate between sadness, fury, pride and electrifying optimism. Yes, this generation is left yo-yoing between making plans for an uncertain future and reacting in real-time, multiple times a day, to russia’s extermination attempts. Yes, for two years, since the start of the full-scale russian invasion, young people in Ukraine are forced to live with horrific news stories about russia’s indiscriminate shelling and hide from russia’s cowardly drone attacks. I can’t help but fear for young people living in the occupied territories, controlled by russian infantry which consists of sadists and rapists, released convicts and pathetic looters. This non-stop horror reel reaches and affects all Ukrainians, old and young alike. Ukrainian youth is notified of incoming Shahed drones sent by russia through an app. It is also a fact, that every Ukrainian in 2024 knows someone who was murdered by the russian enemy or has fallen in defense of freedom.

Concomitantly, perhaps out of self-preservation and a built-in optimism, I have never been more proud of my nation, her defiant and resilient youth. Few examples immediately pop to mind from my own life:

* Friend’s son in Kyiv, a computer science graduate, donated a full month’s salary of his first post-college job to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Additionally, in the evenings, he fixes drones and helps hook up a super computer for the Ukrainian intelligence.

* My nephew, a teenager surviving horrific russian bombings of Zaporizhzhia, began writing music and poetry to lift up his family’s spirits

* Young women supporting one another, one sister through defense on the battle field with the Armed Forces, the other sister from the rear through fundraising and donating.

This brings me to my Inside Ukraine WOW Woman Ms. Julia Tymoshenko, who before the war was as confused about the future as anyone in their early twenties. However, when russians started bombing Kyiv and invaded her home village two years ago, Julia’s mission crystalized. She, and the entire generation of students, grads and new career professionals use their peace-time skills to help Ukraine survive, and win, this war. In Ms. Timoshenko’s case, it was her knowledge of English, her quiet confidence, passion and chutzpah which I found so compelling.

I keep seeing Ms. Tymoshenko pop up in my feeds:

* through her work with a cheeky Canadian-Ukrainian information disseminator platform called Saint Javelin

* as an interviewer for Ukrainer’s English language platform (Ukraine Through the Eyes of Reporters)

* as a Spend_With_Ukraine ambassador with her touching promotion of Ukrainian embroidery, artists and brands.

* and finally from the Ukraine’s 25 Under 25: Young and Daring Award. The award was created to highlight the work of the emerging media makers in Ukraine, to support them at the start of their careers, for those young journalists and media managers who have never worked in a non-wartime media landscape and were no older than 16-years-old when russia first invaded in 2014.

During the award ceremony, on November 10, 2023, Ms. Tymoshenko and 24 other recipients were told: “Russia has stolen your carefree youth. Instead of reporting on social entrepreneurship and cultural development, you put on a helmet, body armor and record interviews from the front line. The time you could have spent sound asleep was stolen from you; instead it’s 3AM and you sit in front of you computer screens feeding the news to the people who need it that instant, oftentime to survive. You were robbed of the opportunity to fundraise for your own media outlets with a clear conscience; instead you choose to fundraise, on all your media channels, for the defenders in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. However, like many Ukrainians in pursuit of justice, you weren’t robbed of your courage nor your determination to tell the truth. As we all know very well, sometimes a challenging endeavor at first seems impossible. But, as Ginny Weasley in Harry Potter said: "Anything's possible if you've got enough nerve."

It’s endearing, Julia’s subtle but powerful activism that permeates throughout her online presence. It all adds up to an endless creative stream of actions aimed at helping her country. Julia tells me that she is into fashion and make-up, but unlike other self-promoters on Instagram, she makes her fashion posts about highlighting Ukrainian brands, showing her followers Ukrainian clothing and jewelry designers, all struggling to make it in the war economy. Julia Tymoshenko and young women and men in her orbit give me hope that, even in a time of war, no outside threat will be able to rob Ukrainians of resolve, power and optimism. Through them, we will persevere and triumph.

- Olga Shmaidenko, Founder of WOW Woman.

Before diving into the interview, I want to leave you with this series of posts from Julia’s social media on March 21st, 2024. It was an early morning time, around 5AM, and my twitter and Instagram lit up with the live reporting of russians bombing Kyiv from civilians in Kyiv; families and kids death reports immediately followed. Russia was murdering Ukrainians while they slept. Before media channels and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted anything about this tragedy, I became a real-time witness to the horror through Julia’s Instagram stories. It was terrifying and gripping and truly illuminated the terror of innocents living through atrocities and speaking about them in an unfiltered way. It also showed me how little regard russia has for Ukrainian lives.

Thursday, March 21, 2024, 5:06 AM.

Media Communications Specialist, Ukrainer, Saint Javelin, Kyiv

1. Name.

Julia Tymoshenko.     

2. Where were you born and where do you live now?

I was born in Zavorychi, Ukraine. It's a beautiful village just east of Kyiv. I live in Kyiv now.

Zavorychi Village Before the full-scale:

February 24, 2022: russia violates international borders of Ukraine and begins the full-scale invasion. russian army advances toward Kyiv and occupies villages along the way. Julia’s home village is attacked and occupied.

- on March 8, 2022, 12 days into the full-scale invasion, russians enter Zavorychi.

3. What did you study and what is your profession?

I studied sociology at the New York University, the Abu Dhabi campus. That was a wild experience and I'm really grateful for the education that I received. I studied on a scholarship and was lucky to be able to study for free. I now work in marketing, communications and media, involved with several different initiatives.

4. What was your typical day like before the war and how has your role changed since the invasion of Ukraine?

Prior to the 24th, my typical day involved going to work, meeting with my co-workers for drinks and living a normal life. I didn’t exactly know what I was going to do, you can say I was contemplating life. Although the contemplation of life still continues to this day, I think I'm lucky to be back in Kyiv, doing what I’m doing now, having some sort of routine and feeling of normalcy. Obviously sometimes my days get interrupted by the russian missile attacks and drone bombings. These experiences are very scary. Unfortunately and tragically, it's not unusual for me to wake up, hear the explosions, experience intense fear for my life for some time and then try to get back myself to what I was doing before the attack.

I have switched jobs since the start of the invasion. I used to work in consulting but soon after the full-scale began, I realized that my superpowers are my communication skills and my ability to advocate for my country to the foreign audiences. So when opportunities to help presented themselves, I jumped:

(1) In May of 2022 I joined the team at Saint Javelin, a Canadian-Ukrainian company which, through the sale of merchandise, donates proceeds to Ukraine; the advocacy side of Saint Javelin creates informative content about the war and advocates for Ukraine’s resistance efforts.

(2) I also work at the Ukrainer (& Ukrainer in English), Ukrainian media company which usually focuses on culture but at the moment has a war focus, because war affects everything inside Ukraine.

Apart from Ukrainians who are working hard to expose russian war crimes and atrocities, international journalists who report from Ukraine also play a crucial role in helping the world see the truth about the unjustified and brutal russian war. To highlight their work and understand how they approach their important role, Ukraīner started a series of interviews titled “Ukraine Through The Eyes of Reporters”.

5. What would you say are your strengths and superpowers?

My flexibility in various situations, being able to adjust to different environments and circumstances. Since the start of the full-scale russian invasion, it’s been also my empathy and kindness to people, as well as standing up for myself and not tolerating other people’s bs. The last one especially is a very important skill, in my opinion.

6. What are some concrete actions (big or small) you’ve done and continue doing to help Ukraine and Ukrainian people?

I continue fundraising for the Ukrainian defenders; just recently my friend and I raised over $5,000 for the Armed Forces present near Avdiivka. This came at the heels of the fundraiser we did for the Ukrainian combat medics.

I am also very very lucky that both my work projects feed my soul, in the way we help Ukraine. Saint Javelin is famous for spreading engaging content about the war, donating proceeds from the sale of merchandise and hosting successful fundraisers. I feel very much involved, like I'm able to directly help Ukraine.

I also work in the Ukrainian media where I feel like I’m daily challenging russian propaganda narrative. I am also proud of creating content and explaining what Ukraine is all about as a nation and culture of people. I want the world to understand why it is important for us to win this war and liberate our people in the russia-occupied territories.

7. What are things you do just for you? Is it possible to stay sane in a war situation? What are some things that help you to not lose yourself?

I love any type of skincare and beauty routines, for anti-stress and fun; I can do that for hours. I also really love fashion, picking and planning my outfits. I also try to work out as it is so important for my mental health and overall wellness. Physical exertion helps me, I think, to live through the war.

8. Do you feel the war changed you? How? Since the start of the war, has anything surprised you about yourself (how you have handled yourself, remained strong, found inspiration in unlikely sources, etc.), about your country, about your ideas about humanity? What have been some of your epiphanies?

Yes, I have changed, very much. I have become more confident, able to face and persevere through various challenges. I’m certainly not afraid of what life throws at me anymore because I’ve seen life at its worst, when I thought that my own life was going to end. After going through something like that, you not scared of anything happening to you. I am of course scared of losing my family, losing my friends and losing my home; so far, very brave Ukrainian soldiers are fighting for us, to ensure this doesn't happen.

As for my epiphanies, in the last two years of russian attacks on my country and my city, I have learned what it means to truly hate. I've never hated anything, anyone, more than I hate russia and russians for doing this to us. Every time I see a picture of a killed child, every time I see a destroyed life, a home, I can’t help but feel this deep hate; it's incredibly strong. Before February 24, 2022, I had no idea that such hate was possible, as I've never experienced it. For the first time, in the past two years of resistance, I also learned what real love is - both in romantic terms, because I was able to love someone deeply, give that love and receive it back at least for some time - but also in a platonic sense, love toward your community, love toward your country, people.

Every time I think about Ukrainians who are surviving every day and doing remarkable things to help one another, I am enveloped by this incredible feeling of love. Every time we mark an anniversary, either Ukraine’s Independence Day or mark the day of the russian full-scale invasion, I reflect on everything that we were able to achieve together as a country, as a nation, and I just can't help but feel immeasurable love in my heart.

You know when they say in situations like this, “love wins over hate” and sometimes this saying is meant to imply that we should love our enemy? I personally think that this is bullshit. I do think that, yes, love wins over hate, but it's the love that you feel toward the people who are doing honorable deeds, who are helping right alongside you. The love which wins is the love toward your community, your close people, your family. That is the love that will prevail, not for me to fucking love russians. I think they only deserve hate, pure and simple.

Another epiphany from the last two years - I changed how I viewed my home, specifically the small village where I was born. Previously, I felt shy and at times insecure about coming to Kyiv from a small village and a humble background. However, once my village was almost taken away from me, when my family survived the russian occupation in 2022, I realized that my home is the most important place in the world to me. There's nothing more important than this little village in the Kiev region. Although I don’t believe in God, I prayed when my village was occupied, I asked God to please just give me my home back and I won’t need anything else ever again. Luckily, Zavorychi was freed and returned to me by the brave Ukrainian soldiers; entire Kyiv region was liberated. I truly hope that all uprooted Ukrainians return home, live on their own liberated land and reunite with their Ukrainian families.

9. What do you want the world to know about Ukrainians at this moment in time? About Ukrainian women?

I think I want the world to know that Ukrainians are united, we love one another despite the difficulties we may experience inside Ukraine. I want the world to know that it is very challenging to stay mentally strong for such a long period of time. I wish for the world to believe in victory with us, that we are going to overcome the aggression, even if we fight until the end. I also want the world to truly understand this point - whether you give us aid or not, Ukrainians will continue fighting, we will never stop. By giving us aid sooner, you are helping us speed up this fight and be able to better protect ourselves on the road to freedom.

Ukrainian women, they are incredibly strong, they've been able to wear many hats, stepping into multiple roles while their husbands went to war. Women are carrying their families, finances, volunteering, advocating for and serving the military through volunteering and fundraising. Tens of thousands of Ukrainian women have joined and serve in the military since February 24, 2022 and carry out the most important for us task of fighting the aggressor and keeping our country free.

11. What is a place or activity that makes you feel happiest?

Being at home, in the free Zavorychi or travelling and exploring new places together with my close friends. These make me the happiest.

14. Where can others find you/your work? (links to website, blog, etc).

linktr.ee/yuliatymoshenko

Instagram: @yulia_tymosha

Twitter: @YuliaTymosha