The future border guard dreams of returning to her native Mariupol
As a twelve-year-old, Karina actively helped her parents in volunteer activities — she weaved camouflage nets, packed products, distributed pro-Ukrainian leaflets on the streets of Mariupol.
In 2016, Karina went to a camp in Lithuania, where she received primary knowledge of military education: children learned to live in the forest in Spartan conditions, bathed in a river, walked in a military step and even tried to shoot. It was difficult, but she liked this experience very much and turned out to be useful. After graduating from school, Karina chose a completely non-military profession - she graduated from music school and entered the conservatory.
At a young age, the girl received the title of “The Best Pianist of Donbass”. Over time, she realized that music is still more of a hobby than a lifetime affair.
February 24, 2022 was a turning point in the life of Karina and her family. Before our eyes, everything usual was destroyed: the city was destroyed by the invaders, the native home had to leave and part with his father, who did not have time to leave Mariupol.
In Zaporizhzhia, after moving, she and her mother and sister continued volunteering: they collected and delivered humanitarian aid, poured Molotov cocktails, searched for all resources and provided IDPs with information about the condition of their homes, helped to find their relatives.
Meanwhile, in Mariupol, his father, an engineer by education, helped people rebuild destroyed housing, tried to repair mobile repeaters on his own to ensure communication. Later, in very difficult ways, Dad managed to leave the rubble of the destroyed city and reunite with his family.
Worried about the future of the children, the parents invited them to go abroad. But instead of collecting suitcases, Karina went to the military enlistment office to ask for military service.
“I have to be here! I know how to hold weapons, and therefore I will fight for my country and take back my Mariupol,” the girl says.
Nevertheless, not a single military unit was in a hurry to sign a contract with a fragile girl, they did not even want to register it in the military. Then the persistent Karina got a job at the military enlistment office. There she met a familiar border guard who recommended to try to enter a border university. At first, the girl did not take this advice seriously, but later decided that she really needed a military education.
Currently, Karina is studying at the Faculty of State Border Security of the National Academy of State Fiscal Service of Ukraine. And confidently copes with all official tasks, learns well, takes an active part in cadet activities. Now, in addition to the piano and singing, lessons on hand-to-hand combat were added to the girl's hobbies.
“When enemies take your life, when they destroy everything you love, protecting the border of the Motherland becomes your ideology,” Karina says.
The girl has a big dream — to return to the liberated Ukrainian Mariupol, to breathe in the air of her native land, to meet with loved ones:
“I will do everything to liberate my city, and I will definitely serve in the Mariupol seaport.”
State Border Guard Service of Ukraine
