Bohdan Levchykov with his moustache of a shadow and his easy baseball cap might pass as a typical teenager anywhere but due to the toll of war that has been taken on his teenage-hood he is most definitely the victim of the heavy weight. He is only 15 years old and bears the marks of a generation of young Ukrainians whose lives have changed forever by almost 4 years of war. Bohdan loses his father Stanislav, a career soldier who was killed in Kharkiv, the second-largest city in Ukraine, soon in 2022, after Russian invasion. This is not the end of the tragedy, his mother, Iryna, 50, has just been diagnosed with uterine cancer in the third stage.
Now, for safety, Bohdan is living in Balakliia Ukraine, which was occupied by Russian forces between March and September 2022 and, despite re-conquered by Ukrainian troops, is still dangerously close to the war zone, only 70 kilometers away from constant shelling.
Going back to the town upon becoming free, Bohdan remembers the image of a desolate town: “My mother and I went back a few days after the city was freed and there were no children, no stores, nothing. A small percentage of the pre-war population of 26,000 in Balakliya have returned, and these are mostly the elderly.
The Russian forces drilled up the locations that used to provide the teens with freedom and recreation, the skate park and the banks of the Balakliika River. Although some demining has occurred, Bohdan reports that there are rumors of the danger remaining and have him and others on the alert. His days are already full of the scream of air raid warning signals, as no one in schools is physically present anymore. The basement of the apartment is a common safe spot in case of attack but his ailing mother cannot get there, hence they have created one, placing a mattress in the small entryway, the only windowless room in their apartment.
Bohdan is a strong willed individual who is responsible and resilient despite the hardships.
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