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WATCH (ABOVE): The four teenagers on how the conflict has affected them
The conflict in Ukraine has split up hundreds of thousands of families and friends – among them, four teenagers from the town of Chernihiv.
Childhood friends Yvan Reshetnik, Roman Zherdetsky, Daniel Kobrin and Vova Sakhnin found their world's turned upside down after Russian troops attacked their home town. Three of the group joined around 150,000 other residents and fled west with their families. But Reshetnik stayed to look after his grandmother.
He endured life in a city that survived without water, electricity, food and medical supplies. As Chernihiv was pounded by Russian artillery for more than a month, the daily death toll climbed to around 50 and soon there weren't even enough coffins to bury the dead.
However, following the withdrawal of Russian troops, residents have returned, including Reshetnik's friends. The group enjoy kicking a football about in a recreation area near their homes. But their life of childhood cannot last much longer.
Once they reach their 18th birthdays they will become eligible, alongside 250,000 other teenagers, to be drafted into the military. Rather than looking ahead to university, their future is more likely to take them to the front line.
"First COVID and then the war – it's like I just got robbed of a few years of my life," says Zherdetsky.
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Copyright © 2023 CGTN. 京ICP备16065310号
Disinformation report hotline: 010-85061466