The Story behind 50 million TikTok Views „When Russia
invaded my country, Ukraine, my parents, my dog and I fled to a
bomb shelter that seemed more than bizarre to me. And because there
was WiFi and the days were damn long and also boring, I posted
videos to introduce my new home – some of them even went around the
world. But my story is actually quite different: It’s that of a
young girl full of big dreams, who wanted to discover the world and
thought war was a bad joke. Until the day I realised I was in the
middle of the biggest nightmare of my life.“ Valeria decided to
show the world her hometown Chernihiv and tell the real stories –
images and events which none of us could have imagined could have
taken place in the 21st century in the middle of Europe. And the
horror does not end with her escape to Milan. Once there, Putin’s
bombs catch up with her and hit her right in the heart of her
family. This is her story of bombs, evacuation, live, death and
things that only make sense if you have to live in a bomb shelter.
„It is horrible when you hear bombs, but you can’t do anything –
you are just a toy.“
© Valeria Shashenok 2022-12-19