Imet Karina on a sunny hillside in Eternal Glory Park in central Kyiv last April.
Karina attends a premedical high school here.
She loves synchronized swimming and doing photo shoots for Instagram with her friends.
THE LESSONS OF CONFLICTMariia gives a presentation at the Maibutni High School in the artsy Podil district in Kyiv. The school is built around a democracy theme, with a curriculum designed by the students.
Misha and Hlib build weapons after school.
Other young men are intent on joining the fight.
The room felt warm and damp from body heat.
Their bodies were lean and muscled, grim determination in their clenched jaws.
Dozens of trainees dropped what they were doing and ran.
They would wait in the nearest subway station until the alert was lifted.
As we sat in the tunnel, I asked if they are missing out on a normal adolescence.
We are losing something, 17-year-old Ygor said.
Oleks, 17, finished the thought: But we are also gaining something.
DASHA SPENDS EVERY waking moment trying to help.
I dont have time to go to school, she told me.
She worked silently and confidently amid a pushy crowd of older male photographers.
I wondered who this very young talent was.
Anna, 18, wears blue mascara and baggy jeans.
She was relieved when they allowed her to come back to Kyiv to finish her senior year.
