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You Don’t Know What War Is: The Diary of a Young Girl from Ukraine is 12-year-old Yeva Skalietska’s firsthand account of her harrowing escape from the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Yeva’s story begins on her twelfth birthday in Kharkiv, where she has been living with her grandmother since she was a baby. Ten days later, the only life she’d ever known was irrevocably shattered. On February 24, 2022, her city was suddenly under attack as Russia launched its horrifying invasion. Yeva and her grandmother fled to a basement bunker, where she began writing this diary. She describes the bombings they endured while sheltering underground, and their desperate journey west to escape the conflict raging around them. “Everyone knows the word war, but very few people understand what it truly means,” writes Skalietska. “I want the world to know what we have experienced.” After many endless train rides and a prolonged stay in an overcrowded refugee center in West Ukraine, Yeva and her beloved grandmother eventually find refuge in Dublin. There, she bravely begins to forge a new life, hoping she’ll be able to return home one day. You Don’t Know What War Is: The Diary of a Young Girl from Ukraine is an important, emotional, and ultimately hopeful memoir about the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian war.