Artist Veronika Kozhushko, 18, killed in Russian attack on Kharkiv

With the death of Kozhushko, Ukraine not only lost yet another artist but one that was just at the start of her life and career.

“Nika had been drawing since childhood, but with the onset of the full-scale invasion, she began to focus even more on it,” Arina Nikolenko, her girlfriend and fellow artist, told the Kyiv Independent. “She felt a specific need to contribute to the creation of contemporary Ukrainian art, which she had come to love so much.”

Kozhushko was a staple at various exhibitions, shows, and literary events in Kharkiv. “No event at the Kharkiv Literature Museum went by without Nika,” recalled Maryna Hrachova, who works at the museum.

“She volunteered (at events), drew, filmed, and simply enjoyed being there (at the museum) — absorbing what was happening, adding color (with her presence), and transforming her impressions into art.”

The garden of the Kharkiv Literature Museum, which is surrounded by sketches of famous writers not only from the city but all around Ukraine, was often a favorite meeting place for her and her friends.

Kozhushko was “always creating art whenever she had a moment,” her close friend Rehina Avksentieva said. “She created modern Ukrainian culture and was for me a living example of art in human form.”

Main Image: Veronica Kozhushko. Photo Yaryna Tsymbal