Tatiana Povalyaeva represented Ukraine at this year's Your Europe, Your Say! (YEYS) alongside her students. A teacher at a secondary school in Kharkiv, she last stood in front of her class in February 2022 and has been teaching online ever since. She describes the challenges of being an educator in a town just 40 kilometres from the Russian border, which has endured relentless strikes since the start of the war.

Under daily bombardments, when their main goal is to stay alive, young Ukrainians cannot afford to think about the distant future, says 18-year-old Yevheniia Senyk, YEYS 2025 participant and youth activist from Ukraine. She shares how the war has affected youth organisations in her country and why it is important to give them a voice on the European stage.