Valeria Shashenok

Valeriia Shashenok (Ukrainian: Валерия Шашенок; born 17 July 2001) is a Ukrainian photographer who has garnered international attention for her satirical TikTok videos documenting the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. She has been compared by some to Anne Frank.[1][2]

Valeria Shashenok
Born (2001-07-17) July 17, 2001
Chernihiv, Chernihiv Oblast, Ukraine
Known forTikTok videos

Life during the war

Shashenok, who is from Chernihiv, Ukraine, worked as a freelance photographer.[3][4] From 24 February 2022 to the week of 13 March, Shashenok lived in a bomb shelter, where she documented her family's survival techniques in a comedic manner and the destruction of her hometown (which is on the border of Russia and Belarus), whereas her friends had fled to countries including Bulgaria and Italy.[4] Her most prominent video featuring the Sicilian song "C'è la luna mezzo mare", which went viral internationally and has accrued over 28 million views.[5] She had previously used TikTok for local businesses and her personal life, but her chronicles of the war started gaining traction when she used English captions. She posted about the war to dispel negative stereotypes about Ukraine and its people, as well as to combat fake news narratives in Russian state media.[6][7][8]

In mid-March, she escaped alone to Poland, while her parents have stayed in Ukraine. According to her account, she went from Kyiv to Lviv, then from Lviv to Poland's Przemyśl; although she lacked her passport, she used documents from Ukraine's Diia app and was allowed into the country. From Przemyśl, she traveled to Warsaw via Łódź and was interviewed by a Polish journalist from Telewizja Polska who recognized her at a train stop.[9] During this journey, she was also interviewed by CNN en Español,[10] Cosmopolitan Italia,[5] and la Repubblica.[11] Shashenok is presently a refugee in Italy.[12]

References
  1. Ferah, Mayssa (12 March 2022). "TikTok comme arme de guerre". La Presse (in French).
  2. Vidal Egea, Ana (19 March 2022). "From Anne Frank's diary to TikTok: the Ukraine war (almost) live". El País.
  3. Sung, Morgan (11 March 2022). "Ukrainian photographer shares what it's like to live in a bunker on TikTok". NBC News.
  4. Bansinath, Bindu (11 March 2022). "TikToking from A Bomb Shelter". The Cut. Vox Media, LLC.
  5. Catalano, Camilla. "Valeria Shashenok filma la sua vita in un bunker su Tik Tok, ed è virale". Cosmopolitan Italia (in Italian).
  6. Rose, Shelby (9 March 2022). "A Ukrainian photographer is using TikTok to turn war zone destruction into art". CNN.
  7. Dado, Natasha (15 March 2022). "Ukrainian Woman Documents What Her Family Cooks and Eats Inside Bomb Shelter amid Russia's Invasion". PEOPLE.com. Retrieved 16 March 2022.
  8. "Ukrainian photographer shows how her family cooks and eats in a bomb shelter". TODAY.com. Retrieved 16 March 2022.
  9. Fowler, Kate (15 March 2022). "Ukrainian Refugee's Viral Video Documents Harrowing Escape to Poland". Newsweek.
  10. Oraa, Alejandro (14 March 2022). "Conoce a la fotógrafa ucraniana que usa TikTok para hablar de la guerra y ayudar a su país". CNN (in Spanish).
  11. "In fuga dalla guerra ucraina, il video tappa per tappa su TikTok: "Ringrazio Putin per questo viaggio"" (in Italian). 15 March 2022.
  12. Charles, Ron (1 April 2022). "In Ukraine, humor has become a weapon of war". The Washington Post.
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