Sumo Story 1

The Story behind 50 million TikTok Views “When Russia

invaded my country, Ukraine, my parents, my dog and I fled to a

bomb shelter that seemed more than bizarre to me. And because there

was WiFi and the days were damn long and also boring, I posted

videos to introduce my new home – some of them even went around the

world. But my story is actually quite different: It’s that of a

young girl full of big dreams, who wanted to discover the world and

thought war was a bad joke. Until the day I realised I was in the

middle of the biggest nightmare of my life.” Valeria decided to

show the world her hometown Chernihiv and tell the real stories –

images and events which none of us could have imagined could have

taken place in the 21st century in the middle of Europe. And the

horror does not end with her escape to Milan. Once there, Putin’s

bombs catch up with her and hit her right in the heart of her

family. This is her story of bombs, evacuation, live, death and

things that only make sense if you have to live in a bomb shelter.

“It is horrible when you hear bombs, but you can’t do anything –

you are just a toy.”