It is a group of friends who, in the midst of threats and verbal outbidding, offer another discourse, another vision than that emanating from diplomatic salons, in this case, their own, young inhabitants of Donbass, in Ukraine, living one kilometer from the Russian border in the town of Avdiyivka.
BBC journalists met Maksym, Ilya, Vadim, Lera, a gang of teenage boys and girls who wrote a song against the war between Ukraine and Russia. The chorus “We just want peace” is in Ukrainian, all the verses are in Russian, and the lyrics tell what they know about the war. Because they have already experienced it.
While the whole world is preparing for a possible #Russian invasion of #Ukrainethese teenagers who live near the front line sing for #peace. https://t.co/0oTKiIbcEl
— Abdujalil A (@abdujalil) February 3, 2022
It was in 2014, when pro-Russian separatists and the Ukrainian army began to clash. “AT that time we were really scared, they say, our parents had put the mattresses in the corridors, so that in the event of a bombardment, at night, we could take refuge more quickly in the cellar.“They say that today it’s much better, that there is nothing to worry about, that they don’t want it to start again and above all, that they prefer not to think about it.
Maksym, Vadim, Ilya and Lera do not read newspapers or watch TV. They are content with social networks, and especially to rock together. “The musicexplains Vadim, it allows us to distract ourselves, to think about something else, it literally saves us, because when we play together, we absorb each other’s energy, and only there, we manage to free ourselves from what is happening around we.“
You shouldn’t be serious when you’re 17, you shouldn’t have to wonder if the shells will fall or not. We should be able to dream our future. During the last conflict, in 2014, not only were there thousands of deaths, but millions of families were displaced, and businesses left, taking jobs with them. However, these four young people all express their hope, their confidence in the future. A serenity that contrasts with the threatening speeches, and which is why this story has been acclaimed on the BBC website and shared many times on social networks.
Most certainly because all that young people, less young people, in Ukraine, in Russia or elsewhere, want is peace, and not belligerent speeches.