‘We call it war-life balance’: Daryna’s daily struggle to live, survive in wartime Ukraine

Daryna, a young Kyiv resident and cybersecurity journalist, describes trying to maintain an ordinary life while living with Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine. Her routines include work, reading, exercise and going out, but air raid alerts and the risk of explosions shape daily decisions and make her sense of normality precarious.

She lives in a historic flat in Podil, filling it with books, records and other comforts despite the possibility of losing them in an attack. A drone recently damaged a friend’s nearby apartment, and Kyiv’s alerts now distinguish between drone and missile threats. Daryna has tried sleeping in a cupboard and a bathtub during attacks, but now usually sleeps in the hallway, which is considered safer.