These are special residents of our shelter in Uzhhorod, as they are the first to be identified as children. Despite the fact that one of the trio is an adult, all three are the youngest independent residents in the facility. To dot the i’s and cross the t’s, the children have parents, a coach, and vast experience in self-organization and discipline, as all three are athletes, judokas, and pupils of the Donetsk Regional Integrated Children’s and Youth Sports School. Now let’s talk about everyone in turn.

Victoriya Sotnyk, 16 years old. Her hometown is Lyman, Donetsk region.

"We left our home in mid-March 2022 when the Svyatohirsk Lavra was hit in a neighboring town. Then my parents said that we had to pack and leave. So we went with my mother to Slovakia. For some time, we lived there as refugees. And then we went with our coach and the team to a long training camp in Romania, where we stayed for a year. Then there were training sessions and camps in Ukraine, and in August we found ourselves in Uzhhorod,", Viktoriya says.

All the girl’s movements are connected with sports, as well as her whole life since she was 5 years old. Now she is a candidate for master of sports, a winner of numerous competitions at various levels. Sport also helps her to survive the military reality, primarily due to her resilience, self-discipline, and organization.

"Here the coach found us a place to train, and we made new friends from the local team. Overall, everything is going well both with the city and the new environment. I used to come here only as a passing through, but I like the city – everything is close by and convenient", she adds.

Alyona Neznayeva, 18 years old. Her hometown is Lyman, Donetsk region.

"We left home at the beginning of the war, the hostilities were very close. At first we lived in Lviv, then in Romania, then we had training in Ukraine, and now we are in Uzhhorod. I spend all my time here training, and in September I’ll start studying, because I’m going to university. But there will also be a sports program there. I’ve been involved in sports for over 10 years, so I’ve decided what I want to do with my life. Now I already have the title of candidate for master of sports, and I am a prizewinner of championships", says Alyona.

She is currently the oldest in her team. Although this does not oblige her to do anything, she still feels responsible for the younger ones. However, according to Alyona, they organized their life in the shelter quite autonomously – everyone cooks for themselves according to the dietary regime and sports diet, and there are no problems with this.

"I’ve already been to Uzhhorod: for competitions, including the Ukrainian championship. Now we have a new local coach here, and we continue to train with ours. This allows me to develop and learn new techniques", the athlete emphasizes.

The girl has no one left in her native Lyman. There is information that the family’s property has been partially destroyed, and repairing it in such unstable conditions is dangerous and quite expensive. Alyona’s immediate priorities have been determined, and she is pursuing her goals related to her sports career.

Oleksandr Kurbatskyi, 14 years old. His hometown is Zaporizhzhia. His journey to Uzhhorod also includes Romania and sports training camps in different parts of Ukraine.

"It was my first time in Uzhhorod, but I adapted easily. We are generally friendly in the team, and it helps. Independent living is not new either – in Romania, I have lived without my parents for a year and a half, taking care of myself. It’s normal for athletes, and I’ve been playing sports since I was seven. I have already made new friends here, sometimes we play table tennis with them as a hobby. However, now I am focusing all my efforts on preparing for competitions – in September I will take part in the Kyiv Judo Championship, and then the important Ukrainian Championship in Odesa", says Oleksandr.

Oleksandr is the youngest among his colleagues, but he is no less independent. His achievements include victories at all-Ukrainian and international tournaments. In addition to sports, he is engaged in education on a daily basis, as he continues his studies at a gymnasium in Zaporizhzhia. He says that he has adapted to combine all his classes and the organization of his own life.

We also talked to the coach of our residents. Dmytro Ihnatenko is an international judge and President of the Donetsk Regional Judo Federation. He moved to Uzhhorod with his family and students. He conducts daily training sessions for the latter, communicates with parents, who, in turn, are responsible for the academic discipline of their children, as two of them continue online learning at their schools, and Alyona is going to university this year. While the children perceive the next move as an opportunity to continue training, the safety factor is no less important for the coach, as his students have already been through enough.

"All my students now live and study all over Ukraine. There are currently three students in Uzhhorod, but soon there will be four. Victoria and Alyona are members of the Ukrainian national team, and Sashko is a very promising and capable athlete. They are wonderful children, there are no problems with them. I’m always interested in how they behave, how they eat... For a year and a half in Romania, we haven’t had any incidents. Most of their activities is training, twice a day. Judo is a beautiful sport, it inspires by itself. Perhaps that’s why my students are so passionate about their choice and persistent in improving their own results", the coach believes.

It should be noted that these are the first residents of the "PrykhystOK" whom we did not ask about their February 24, 2022, because we believe that young people should live in the future, not the past.