Valeria Shashenok will be spending the festive season in London, not with her loved ones in Ukraine.
On 24 February 2022, life changed completely for many Ukrainians - including Valeria Shashenok."It was a nightmare. I couldn't realise this had happened and I was living in a bomb shelter with my parents," Valeria tells BBC Newsbeat.
If her face seems familiar, it's because Valeria's TikTok videos documenting the damage and destruction caused by Russian missiles went viral."I understood it was my weapon to use and spread information about my country," says Valeria, from Chernihiv. Valeria says making videos was a way of protecting her mental health and her "key to not fully accepting what was happening".Valeria eventually made the decision to leave Ukraine.
"He was 18 years old and in this nightmare, he unfortunately left the bomb shelter where he was with my parents.
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