Hi, everybody! My name is Artem. In a few months, I should have turned 16 and become all grown up and independent but in March a Russian rocket bombed my home. My family – Mom, Dad, my two younger brothers, and Grandma – died with me. The day before we were going to evacuate from Sumy, we had already packed the suitcases but we didn`t have time to escape. If I could describe my life in one word it would be "sports". I wasn`t even 6 when I started taking Judo and Sambo. With persistence, I achieved great heights. In 2021, I won the Ukrainian Sambo Championship and in a year I should have participated in the World Championship in the Netherlands — I got a place on the national team.

I didn`t stop before anything in my desire to be the best in Sambo – strict diets, training two times a day. But I never forgot about my responsibilities in school and at home. I was a good student and took additional lessons with tutors. My teachers remember me as level-headed and smiley. I was the oldest among three brothers and always tried to take care of my Mom Katia. I did my best to help her with everything.

As a family, we used to go on vacation a few times a year. I wasn`t fond of laying on the beach for hours, I much preferred something active like skiing. I was dating a girl from my class for a year and began earning my first money at my Dad`s job. 

The Russian bomb that fell in our backyard ruined everything. I will never know the feeling of being in the World Championship... I will never be accepted into the university I dreamed about... I will never come of age. My future and the future of my entire family was bombed by Russia.