On the night of February 24, 2022, Maksim, 23, will never forget: "I was woken up by two explosions. At 5 a.m., my father called me and said: 'Maksim, I 'love, please come home, I have to go'. He went to the front to protect us."

On this day, Europe wakes up to war, Russia invaded neighboring Ukraine, sparking the worst conflict on the continent since World War II. 

The memory is very different for Mariya, a 21-year-old Ukrainian.

"At first, I didn't believe it, I thought it was a joke. It was like in the movies: you arrive in the living room, everyone is sitting on the sofa, watching television, and there you see different parts of your country being bombed.”

“There is a gap, we don’t experience the same things”

The lives of the two students based in kyiv are then turned upside down.

In the aftermath of the invasion, a question arises for them: to stay or leave the country.

Maksim decides to stay in kyiv to watch over his family;

Maryia prefers to flee to Brussels, leaving behind all her loved ones. 

"I continue to talk to them every evening. And sometimes, I understand that there is a gap, because I don't experience the same things as them, she says, torn. "I constantly wonder if I'm going to go back there, or I'm going to stay here."

The situation is complicated for Maksim: "It's difficult here, because most of my friends have gone abroad. You tell yourself that the others are resting, leading a good life, traveling, while you stay There, sitting in a cage, afraid of getting killed."

As the war in Ukraine enters its third year, ENTR and France 24 went to meet Maksim and Mariya.

The two young people look back on their daily lives but also on their doubts and their fears.

Click on the video to watch their full testimony.

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