/ Nikita and Timofey

Nikita 6 and Timofey 13, siblings from Kyiv, are spending their 2025 summer break in the remote Ukrainian village of Stara Buda.
Like all schoolchildren in Ukraine, their holiday runs from June 1 to September 1. But unlike many of their peers, they spend it far from home. Two years ago, the children’s mother died unexpectedly. Their father works long hours in the city, so each summer they are cared for by their grandmother, Anna.

Until recently, Anna also lived in Kyiv. But with Russian missile and drone attacks regularly targeting the capital, she made the decision to move to a safer place — a modest farmhouse in the countryside. Here, in rural central Ukraine, life is quieter. Drones can sometimes still be heard in the distance, heading toward Kyiv, but the village remains untouched.

The children help their grandmother in the vegetable garden, fetch milk from a nearby farm, and in the late afternoons, swim in a small lake close by.