A Ukrainian teenager has shown what her day to day life is like living in Ukraine amidst the Russian invasion in a series of sobering TikTok videos.
18-year old Dzvinka Hlibovytska (@dzvnks) first posted a video chronicling her day to day life since the Russian invasion living in the city of Lviv in western Ukraine.
Captioned "Is this really how my life at 18 should look like?" the video has gone on to receive over one million views.
With "My day as a Ukrainian in Lviv during the war" permanently on display in the video's overlay, the nine-second video began with a close up of Hlibovytska, looking fairly sad and tired.
The lower overlay reading "wake up, eat, get dressed- 8-10am", the video then cut to Hlibovytska laying out clothes on her bed."
The video next showed her filling up her backpack, with the overlay changing to show that her next item on the schedule was far less routine.
"Packing emergency bag to take with me, get to volunteer point 10am-12pm"
After a short clip of Hlibovytska walking down the street, the video cut to two quick cuts of young women at a computer, and packing a number of cardboard boxes, with yet another change in the overlay.
"Volunteering, Cyber attacking, sorting humanitarian aid- 12 till night."
The final shots of the video showed Hlibovytska and her friends in what looked like a basement, along with the video's most heartbreaking overlay.
"Sometimes hiding from bombing."
The video is the first in a series of videos Hlibovytska has posted since Russia invaded Ukraine.
In a terrifying follow-up video, Hlibovytska captured how she and her roommate are on constant alert, saying in the video's caption:
"But it's the only way to stay safe, so we're staying awake."
The eight-second video showed Hlibovytska in her apartment, before the sun had even risen, briefly panning to her laptop to read the headlines, explaining her situation in the overlay.
"This is the life I never wanted, stop Russian aggression."
"It's 5am. You and your friend have to wake up, it's your turn to be on duty if the sirens go off and something happens."
In one of her more heartbreaking videos, Hlibovytska showed the toll the invasion has taken on her mental state after one week, saying in the overlay:
"Crying has become part of my morning routine before volunteering."
Though, much to her credit, not all of Hlibovytska's video's have been pure doom and gloom.
In one video, Hlibovytska unleashed her anger at Russia, declaring in the video's caption "I want my normal life back."
The six second video captured Hlibovytska lip-synching to SVA's "I Hate U", ending with SVA flipping the bird to "all the Russians that took away [her] normal life", as written in the overlay.
While one of her more heartwarming videos showed that she was even able to find some humor in her truly horrific situation.
The 21-second video captured Hlibovytska and a friend showing viewers "things in our emergency bags that just make sense", such as their passports, pepper spray, their middle school diplomas, keys to their homes in Kyiv, nicotine pads, a padlet downloaded with cartoons, and an American $20 bill.
Hlibovytska declared in the video's overlay that anyone could easily live three months in Moscow on 20 US dollars."
Throughout the whole demonstration, Hlibovytska and her friend are jovially snapping along to "Luna Mezz'o Mare" in the background.
Hlibovytska claimed the video was "[their] way of coping" in the caption.
Hlibovytska's scary, sad, and sobering videos touched the hearts of her TikTok followers, all of whom expressed their love and support in the videos' comments.
@dzvnks/TikTok
@dzvnks/TikTok
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@dzvnks/TikTok
Hlibovytska hopes that her videos will stretch far beyond her over 7 thousand TikTok followers, however, as evidenced by another video.
In one video, in which Hlibovytska spoke directly to the camera, she included her email in the overlay, saying she hoped that her story might reach a western media outlet.
"I want to share my story, I want to spread awareness about what is happening here in Ukraine right now".
"Please help spread awareness to the world on what is happening in Ukraine, and please help me tell my story to the whole world."
While The New York Times reported that over one million Ukrainians have fled the country and as many as 10 million are likely to be displaced, Hlibovytska proudly stated in her video that she will remain in Lviv for "as long as [she] can and as long as it's still safe to be here."
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U.S. Mint
