Ukraine War Diaries: EP15 - Warrior citizens & when a girl ‘checks’ a nation (July 11-15)

Ilyas wrestles with issues of personal and national identity while at the same time trying to figure out ways to see his sons in Poland. Meanwhile, Oksana finds inspiration in the simple but significant actions of an 11-year old girl. *Seva is away. BACKGROUND Ilyas is an IT specialist and married father who fled from Kyiv to Lviv shortly after the war started. Right now his wife Natalia, and two young sons are taking refuge in Poland.As of July 2022, Ilyas is back living in the family apartment in Kyiv and working, in part, for the Ukrainian government on various projects. Oksana, 34, works in overseas education. She lives with her husband, Seva, in an apartment complex in central Kyiv and has remained in the Ukrainian capital since the war started. Many of Oksana’s closest friends have left the country to begin new lives in Europe. Some may never return. She’s determined to stay.Seva, 40, is a company CEO and husband to Oksana. Before the war, he travelled across Europe for business. Now, he makes regular supply drops of medical aid and rations to Ukrainian troops on the front line in Eastern Ukraine. He’s originally from a small village near Dnipro. Ukraine War Diaries uses first-person audio, recorded on the ground in Ukraine, to give an intimate day-to-day perspective of life in a war zone. Week 15 diary entries were recorded using WhatsApp voice note. From the producers of Sky News’ multi-award winning series – StoryCast.