Q&A: On Being a College Student in Ukraine, 2025

Authors

• Katherine A. Watt, Dominican University of CaliforniaFollow
• Heidi K. Smith, San Francisco State University, University of Oslo, NorwayFollow

Abstract

Nataliia is a nineteen year old university student in Kiev, Ukraine. Her country has been at war since 2014 when Russia first invaded Crimea, a region in the Southwest of Ukraine. Four years into Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Nataliia agreed to sit with the Penguin Review for a Zoom interview to discuss the current state of affairs, the experience of being a student during a time of war, and her hope for the country's future.