Actress Kira Knightley voiced the diary of 12-year-old Kharkiv Eva Skaletskaya

Memories of childhood You have to be connected to something pleasant and joyful. It is sad to realize that children from Ukraine are deprived of this, because only one main memory of childhood will remain in their memory forever - the war.



Dealing with the psychological trauma that grows deeper every day is not easy for both children and adults. We need to talk about it, these emotions need to be lived. 12-year-old Kharkiv Eva Skaletskaya found a way to do this. And the famous actress Keira Knightley helped her. What it is about and why it is so important, read further in the article.

“And suddenly I woke up from the explosions, our windows looked at the border with Russia and on the first day we saw the first rockets flying and cars began to buzz, squeak,” 12-year-old Eva writes in her diary. The girl comes from Kharkov, a city with a million people, which the Russian occupiers began to “liberate” one of the first.

The child put everything on paper. In fact, this is a great way to live emotions and at least somehow control your psycho-emotional state. For Eva, a personal diary was a salvation. But, writing her notes, the girl could not imagine that someday they will be made public.



A week after the full-scale invasion began, Eva's family lost their homes. The child recalls: We lived in a nice neighborhood, we had a big apartment and on day 6 we learn that our apartment was bombed by a cluster bomb. I cried a lot. And that same evening, the planes started flying, the big plane started dropping bombs and we lay down on the ground and we just prayed.

Eva's grandmother, with whom she lives after her parents' divorce, began to reassure her. Seeing a rocket in the sky, the girl panicked. Grandma and granddaughter started going down to the basement. Since then, Eva has kept her diary. She had a blank notebook long ago that she didn't use. To write down everything that happens in it, it was necessary for the child, because it is simply frightening to discuss it out loud.

Very soon, Eva’s grandmother decided to take her granddaughter away from Kharkov. Being in this city is not safe for a child. Almost without anything, the family went first to the Dnieper. The woman wanted to go back to the apartment and take more things, but Eva protested and didn't want to let her go alone: "I'll go with you." If we die, it will be two.”



Then the grandmother and granddaughter went to the West of Ukraine. They managed to find shelter in Uzhgorod, where the family was sheltered in school together with other internally displaced persons. At the time, she knew the girl was keeping a diary. In the evenings, Eva read notes from it to her grandmother. Listening to them without tears was impossible.

One day journalists from England came to the refugee centre. Eva told them about her diary, and they became very interested in the child's notes. They were struck by the sincerity and emotionality of children's memories of the war.

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Journalists offered Eva to publish her diary abroad, and the girl with her grandmother to take to Ireland, where kind people were ready to shelter Ukrainians. The woman understood that the school would not be able to support immigrants forever, and she did not have money for housing in Uzhgorod. So the family accepted the offer of foreign guests and soon found themselves in Dublin.

"You don't know what war is." Once abroad, Eva plunged into the world of literature and journalism. She had her own literary agent who helped with the selection of a diary publishing house. Several applicants fought for its publication. But as a result, the diary of the girl was published by the publishing house that published the Harry Potter books.



Instagram/@charity_true_russia "You don't know what war is." - this name was given to the diary of a young Kharkiv woman. The book has an audio version voiced by the famous actress Keira Knightley. Personally, she did not meet with the girl, but it was very tender for her to touch such an important work.

The book can be purchased in bookstores in the UK and other countries of the world. As many as 18 publishers offered Eva cooperation. The book was translated into different languages so that as many people as possible could learn about the girl’s story. The book will also appear in Ukrainian translation.



Instagram / @yachildrenspicc Eva herself, although safe now, dreams of returning to her homeland. She misses Kharkiv and hopes that the sky over her beloved city will become peaceful as soon as possible. Let it be so!

This story touched us. Memories of childhood should not be like this! How sad that we can no longer change that.