In short
Love and daily life in Kharkiv during Russia’s war, including border-crossing, constant bombardment, psychological strain, and how art and routine help people endure.
Guests (main people featured)
- Adela Knapova, Czech writer/journalist; met Konstantin Zorkin during a Kharkiv writer’s residency and later moved from Prague to Kharkiv.
- Konstantin “Kostya” Zorkin, Ukrainian artist; lives in Kharkiv and continues creating art despite danger.
- Anna Ginn, Kharkiv writer; stays in a heavily bombed apartment area with her dog Hector and parrot Kira.
Key claims
- Kharkiv has no safe place; attacks can be minutes away.
- Even with fear, people choose to stay for love and contribution.
- June’s major drone/missile attack worsened mental health; some seek tranquilizers.
- Art and small routines (cooking, markets, exhibitions) sustain life.
Notable examples
Farmer’s market with air-raid alarm; Literary Museum garden where Adela first met Kostya; Kostya’s basement studio carving; June 7 attack with ~50 drones and multiple missiles; Anna’s family deaths and “indirect victims” account.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VOAdela's Journey to Kharkiv
1:21 to 6:16
Adela Knapova recounts her experiences crossing into Ukraine and meeting Kostya.
“I've been waiting here for more than four hours in a queue.”
Life under Bombardment
6:16 to 7:19
Adela and Anna share insights about living in Kharkiv amid ongoing attacks.
“It's a few days before Christmas and Anna is out in the snow walking her dog, a doberman called Hector.”
Anna's Reflections on Loss
7:19 to 8:12
Anna discusses the impact of the war on her family and personal grief.
“I always feel grateful when I get home and find that my house is still standing.”
Cultural Resilience in Kharkiv
8:12 to 10:37
Discussion about Kharkiv's cultural scene and the importance of art during conflict.
“And this photograph here is of my parents, my mum and dad.”
Cultural Resilience in Kharkiv
13:57 to 14:19
Discussion about Kharkiv's cultural scene and the importance of art during conflict.
“You're listening to the documentary from the BBC World Service.”
Introduction to Ancient Epics
14:22 to 14:54
Exploring the origins of the Iliad and Odyssey and their impact.
“someone had to compose the Iliad and Odyssey.”
Konstantin's Artistic Journey
15:05 to 16:03
An artist shares his story of love and creativity amidst war.
“It's full of hammers and chisels and he's hard at work carving a big wooden structure, a three-dimensional artwork made out of mahogany that he's calling lies.”
Living in Kharkiv During War
16:08 to 18:29
Reflecting on daily life and emotional challenges in Kharkiv.
“At the same time, right now someone is dying 20 kilometres from me.”
The Night of the Drone Attack
18:39 to 21:56
Describing a powerful missile attack and its psychological impact.
“Two weeks later, in the early hours of the 7th of June, Kharkiv is hit by one of the most powerful drone and missile attacks of the war.”
Adela's Dilemma
22:15 to 24:22
Adela grapples with her feelings about leaving Kharkiv amidst conflict.
“to a small house that she owns beside the sea in Greece.”
Show all 12 chapters
The Reality of War and Love
24:28 to 28:00
Navigating love and daily life amid ongoing warfare in Ukraine.
“Two weeks later, Donald Trump announces he will hold talks with President Putin in Alaska.”
Love and Resilience in Kharkiv
28:00 to 28:35
Explore the enduring love amidst the challenges of war in Kharkiv.
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:00Adela Knapova:This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK.
0:30Adela Knapova:No bouncing between tabs. And best of all, no spreadsheets. Stop managing software and start managing your business with one unified system. Try for free today at odoo.com. That's O-D-O-O dot com. Choiceology, an original podcast from Charles Schwab, is a show about the psychology and economics behind our decisions. Join host Katie Milkman, an award-winning behavioral scientist and author of the best-selling book, How to Change, as she shares true stories from Nobel laureates, authors, athletes and everyday people about why we make the choices we do and how to make better ones to help avoid costly mistakes.
1:08Adela Knapova:Listen to choiceology at schwab.com slash podcast or wherever you listen.
1:20Albina Kovalyova:I'm at the Polish-Ukrainian border. It's midday. It's hot outside, 33 degrees. I'm waiting here. I've been waiting here for more than four hours in a queue. They work really slowly here. This is the longest time I've been ever waiting on my way to Ukraine. But anyway, I can't wait to be with Kostya.
1:47Adela Knapova:Czech writer and journalist Adela Knapova has almost lost count of the amount of times she's crossed the border here into Ukraine.
1:58Albina Kovalyova:It looks like it's my turn to go, to move another two metres, so I'm going to do it now. I just can't wait to be with Kostya, and I'm tired, to be honest. We are all tired. Everyone here is tired.
2:18Adela Knapova:It was over a year ago that Adela first met the Ukrainian artist Konstantin Zorkin, or Kostya, as she likes to call him. It was in Kharkiv, where Kostya lives, in Russian-speaking eastern Ukraine, one of the most bombed cities in the country. Adela was there for a writer's residency. It wasn't quite love at first sight, but it wasn't far off. Within weeks, Adela had packed up her life in Prague and moved to Kharkiv to be with him.
2:49Albina Kovalyova:If someone told me even one year ago that I will live in Kharkiv, that I will fall in love and that I will be happy in Kharkiv and that I will live all my Prague life for Kharkiv, I would consider that person a crazy man or woman. I would say, it's no way, no way. But that's what she did.
3:16Adela Knapova:Kharkiv is an important cultural, educational and industrial centre close to Ukraine's north-eastern border with Russia, which is why it suffered some of the worst attacks of the war.
3:42Albina Kovalyova:Tcharkov, the area is called Slobodanshinav, which means country of freedom, in translation. Because they were always standing like this. We are Ukraine, we will never be Soviets. So you cannot say there is a safe place in Ukraine, because each place is under the Russian threat. But of course, when you launch the missile or something, you have like 30 minutes to live, 15 to Kyiv. But you have 20 seconds in Kharkov or in Sumy. So it makes a difference. This is now a farmer's market. It's a huge concrete place full of small buildings.
4:28Albina Kovalyova:It's a strawberries we're taking. Because Kostya wants cherries. And we heard the explosion far away, like two or three kilometers. The drone was shut down. Of course there is an air raid alarm.
4:51Adela Knapova:Adela had been to Ukraine before to report on the war. She never imagined she'd live here. But once she met Kostya, there was no other option.
5:01Albina Kovalyova:When I'm in Prague, they always ask me, why don't you bring Kostyantin with you? We can help you. He can live here. But I say, he doesn't want to live here. It's his city. It's their country. They can't run away. They don't want to run away. Of course, if Russians enter Kharkiv, there is no place for us where they'll be killed, both of us. And we know it. It's not only us. The reality of the war is like this. But as long as Kharkiv is under Russian bombing and the war is going on, that's my place, that's my home, because it's Kostya's home.
5:39Adela Knapova:This is Kharkov, Love in a War Zone, from BBC Eye, on the documentary for the BBC World Service. I'm Albina Kovaleova, and for the past year, I've been helping people in Kharkov to document their daily lives, as the city of over a million people suffers some of the heaviest assaults of the war, recording what it's like to live under constant fear of bombardment and the hopes and fears for the future of Adela and Kostya and the others like them who've chosen to stay. People like Anna Ginn.
6:23Adela Knapova:It's a few days before Christmas and Anna is out in the snow walking her dog, a doberman called Hector.
6:35Adela Knapova:Like Adela, Anna's a writer. And like Adela and Kostya, she doesn't want to leave.
6:46Adela Knapova:Look how beautiful it is. If you don't notice the rocket shells in the park And if you don't hear the sirens, then for a moment it can seem like an ordinary day.
7:07Adela Knapova:Soon everyone will be decorating their Christmas trees. In some ways we live a normal life, but it's not normal. Honestly, I'm not afraid of anything anymore. Not after everything we've been through.
7:34Adela Knapova:I always feel grateful when I get home and find that my house is still standing. That means something here. In Kharkiv, things can end at any moment. Anna lives in an apartment block in the north of the city in one of the most bombed-out parts of Kharkov. She lives here with her dog Hector and a parrot called Kira.
8:03Adela Knapova:Anna points to a photograph on her book-lined shelves. This is my daughter. She is my only child. The war forced her to leave. I really miss her. She lives in Israel now.
8:19Adela Knapova:And this photograph here is of my parents, my mum and dad. The war took them. It was in 2022. A rocket landed in their garden and my mother's heart gave out. My father died 44 days later. They call them indirect victims of war.
8:46Adela Knapova:Anna opens the door onto a narrow balcony. All around are other high-rise apartment blocks. Anna points north to the horizon. It all comes from there. Look, can you see? There's Russia over there. It's 30 kilometers to the border. You can get there by bike. That's why Kharkiv has suffered so much. They don't have far to come.
9:19Adela Knapova:By the middle of May 2025, independent monitors say 1 ,684 civilians had been killed in the Kharkiv region during the war, and there had been 23 ,079 attacks.
9:47Adela Knapova:For a while, Kharkov was the capital of Soviet Ukraine. It's still an important center of culture and thought. And despite the bombings, its artistic and literary community is determined to go on. Artists like Konstantin Zorkin.
10:03Albina Kovalyova:We left Kostya in his studio like three minutes ago. And now we are passing by the maker's coffee, our favorite spot. If you want to meet someone important, I mean like intellectuals, artists or volunteers, you go there, you go to makers and drink a coffee.
10:26Adela Knapova:Adela is back in Kharkiv from the Czech Republic. She was there to launch her new book, a series of short stories about Kharkiv. It's called The Bloody Compot.
10:37Albina Kovalyova:I'm walking down the Somska Street, which serves like one of the main wings of the city. There's a traffic jam every day, trolley buses. So and now we are going by and we're approaching the Literary Museum of Kharkiv. It's the place where I met Kostianton for the first time. I'm opening its iron gate. Good morning. I'm here for BBC. see. We are in a yard that's behind the Literary Museum. It's a garden, wild garden with trees, apple trees, and it's a shelter for concerts and meetings and events that are happening here in Literary Museum. And here I saw Kostiantin for the first time last summer under this apple tree I'm standing right now.
11:39Albina Kovalyova:I saw his art. It was time of the opening of his exhibition, of the exhibition In the Name of the City. It's a collective project. And when I saw for the first time Gostia's work, I was just stunned. When you meet with real art, with the big A, it shatters you, it touches you. It was something mystical. So I felt like, wow, wow, this is something I haven't felt for a really long time. And then, like within 10, 15 minutes, Tania Filipchuk, the director of the museum, introduced me to the artist Kostiantan. So here it all started.
12:25Adela Knapova:Tania, the director, is there the day we visit.
12:29Albina Kovalyova:Do you remember when I came for the first time? Yes. You came to our museum and it was early autumn. It was very warm weather and we had a beautiful event in our garden. That was true. Yeah, and I immediately fell in love with the city. I remember I was walking with you. You were showing me the city. I said, maybe I can buy a flood here.
13:06Albina Kovalyova:When I was invited to a literal residency into the city that is constantly anti-Russian bombing I felt like, okay, that's a challenge and I fell in love with the city which is not a nice city Kharkiv is not a beautiful city compared to Prague where I came from it's now but it's an unbelievably strong city. You can see the sky from everywhere. It doesn't matter where you are. You just feel and see the sky. It's just non-stop horizon. And then it was the energy of the city. There were bombings every day but your cafe is broken. Within 24 hours it's working again. And everyone is going there to buy coffee to support you.
13:53Albina Kovalyova:I've never seen braver people in my life. Yeah.
13:58Adela Knapova:You're listening to the documentary from the BBC World Service. With the new Schwab Teen Investor account, teens can gain hands-on investing experience and build positive money habits. It's an account co-owned by you and your teen, so you can monitor and engage with the account while your teen learns how to invest and manage money. Learn more at schwab.com. Before Achilles found glory and Odysseus eventually found his way home, someone had to compose the Iliad and Odyssey. But was their credited author, Homer, even real? Hi, I'm Greg Jenner, host of You're Dead to Me, the comedy show that takes history seriously, and we are travelling back to 8th century BCE to trace the origins of the Iliad and Odyssey, epic poems that became backbones of Western literature.
14:46Adela Knapova:Join me and my fantastic guests as we unpack the stories of ancient Greek culture, war and triumph and have a laugh while we do it. Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you.
14:58Albina Kovalyova:Bye.
15:04Adela Knapova:Later, we visit Constantine in his basement studio. It's full of hammers and chisels and he's hard at work carving a big wooden structure, a three-dimensional artwork made out of mahogany that he's calling lies. He tells us about the day that Adela first came here.
15:27Adela Knapova:We were sitting at this table, talking about Kharkiv, about the feeling in the city, and Adela sat on the chair that I'm sitting on now. And I don't let anyone sit on this chair except for me. And there were two journalists here, and I felt very tense. And I just started talking to her. I looked at her, and she looked at me. And I remember it as this magical story, because I hardly ever left this basement. There was so much death around. I worked all the time. And love, warmth found me. A month after that meeting in Kostya's studio, Adela moved to Kharkov. They've been together ever since.
16:07Albina Kovalyova:Today is Friday, the 16th of May, and I'm in our flat in city centre. it's a beautiful flat high ceilings old wooden floors my closest friends say that Kharkiv has changed me I have different eyes they say a different smile I don't know, I'm not aware of it I have a unique position half inside, half outside I can run to safety at any time sometimes I even feel guilty for that but as long as Gostya is here in Kharkov I have no choice but to live here with him he never asked me to live here with him he always repeats that he is aware of the risks I'm taking I know deep inside that I can either wither away broken in safety or live fully with love in Kharkov But I won't lie Somewhere deep beneath all this life Love, happiness, hope and gratitude Well there is a sadness I think I haven't admitted it loud To anyone yet The endless sadness
17:36Albina Kovalyova:Behind the window there is a big tree green tree and the sun is dancing on my table on my writing on the strawberries because two days ago we went to the farmer's market here in Kharkiv and we bought two kilos even the strawberries are screaming Russians and death and annihilation and yes everyone is asking about Donald Trump and Putin and Zelensky and the European Union and NATO and all this negotiation as well. At the same time, right now someone is dying 20 kilometres from me. They are dying, they are fighting, they are scared to death. So else we can live. And that makes me so sad.
18:39Adela Knapova:Two weeks later, in the early hours of the 7th of June, Kharkiv is hit by one of the most powerful drone and missile attacks of the war. It comes five days after a Ukrainian attack on a Russian airbase.
Read the full transcript
18:56Albina Kovalyova:What you hear is the shakhet and the Ukrainian army trying to shoot them down. It's more than 40 explosions during the night here. rockets, ballistic missiles and dozens of shahats. It's the biggest Russian attack on Kharkiv during the war, what we're experiencing this night. It's not even four in the morning.
19:28Adela Knapova:This may not have been the deadliest attack on Kharkiv since Russia's full-scale invasion, but it was certainly one of the most intense. Around 50 drones, four guided aerial bombs and one missile were launched at the city in the course of just 90 minutes, shortly before dawn. Anna has lived through countless attacks, like everyone else in Kharkiv. But somehow these attacks in June break something in her.
19:58Adela Knapova:The dog was going crazy. I didn't know what to do. So honestly, that night, I thought I was going to say goodbye to life. I've never had such a feeling of hopelessness in all the time since. Maybe it's finally getting to me, I don't know. I just feel I want to give up. For the first time in three and a half years, I've gone to the pharmacy and asked them to give me tranquilizers. I hope they work.
20:28Adela Knapova:Adela is also affected. She's feeling torn.
20:32Albina Kovalyova:When the last explosions, Kostya told me that he will help me pack my stuff and I should leave. But I can't leave. I want to stay with him, but at the same time, I feel like I need to calm down, to breathe.
20:58Adela Knapova:Later, in their kitchen, Adela and Kostya are cooking lunch. It's small, everyday routines like this, Kostya tells us, that help you survive.
21:12Adela Knapova:In this chaos, the only thing that you feel you can do is to live your life while you can. Live your life, love, work, and make some kind of contribution to what's happening. For Konstantin, that contribution isn't fighting on the front line. It's art.
21:32Adela Knapova:Some people might say that my work can wait, that art can wait, that I'll be more useful doing something else. But I'm not going to stop creating. if we survive, when we survive, and I really want to believe that we will survive, maybe someone someday will write a book about us. They will say there was this important historical phenomenon in Kharkiv. Culture there didn't stop. Art didn't stop. Exhibitions were held. Books were written. Books were published. You feel the pain of the wounds of this great city. It's like muscles that hurt. And you understand. You can lose it all at any moment. On the 27th of June, Adela leaves Kharkiv to go for a month or so to a small house that she owns beside the sea in Greece.
22:25Adela Knapova:Meanwhile, the Russian attacks on Ukraine and on Kharkiv continue.
22:34Adela Knapova:You said you were four times close to a deal with Putin. You said you were four times close to a deal with Putin. Are you done with him? I mean, I know that sounds a simplistic thing. No, I'm not done, but I'm disappointed in him. We had a deal done four times, and then you go home and you see he just attacked a nursing home or something. And so what the hell was that all about?
22:53Albina Kovalyova:We are very unhappy, I am, with Russia. And we're going to be doing very severe tariffs if we don't have a deal in 50 days. I'm sitting on the beach in front of my house. And it's northern Greece. And it's really, even here it's hot. And I'm thinking about Kostiantin because I've been without him for more than three weeks already. And I can't wait to go back to Kharkiv. The thing with Trump and all his administration and their changing minds like every other day, 180 degrees. It's just absolutely crazy. while you're living in Ukraine and especially closer front lines like in Kharkiv, you just don't care.
23:41Albina Kovalyova:Because it takes such a long time until it brings something for your life, if even it happens. So even for the 50 days ultimatum that Trump gave to Putin, yes, I was afraid because usually after each phone call between Trump and Putin, it was more massive attacks on Ukraine, on Kharkiv, Sumy, Dnipro and Kiev too. I was asking Kostya about this and well, you know, no one believes it will change anything because it's not the first ultimatum. It's just the, I don't know, third, fourth, fifth. So, okay, when it happens, it happens. In Kharkiv, you learn how to accept the reality that's happening now.
24:27Albina Kovalyova:You're living the now moment.
24:36Adela Knapova:Two weeks later, Donald Trump announces he will hold talks with President Putin in Alaska. President Trump said that he will tell his Russian counterpart to end the war on Ukraine when the two men meet on Friday. Ukraine's president is not invited.
24:57Albina Kovalyova:It's the day before Trump's meeting with Putin and maybe you can hear the air, it's nothing changed here in Kharkiv Adela is just back from Greece Tomorrow I'm going to the occupied villages My volunteer friends are buying crops and produce from the local farmers and selling it in Kharkiv I'm going to look outside. Yeah, it's, you know, the sounds of Kharkiv.
25:32Adela Knapova:Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin arrived in Anchorage in Alaska a couple of hours ago, greeting each other on a red carpet laid out at a US Air Force base. It's the first time they've met face to face since... Two days later, President Zelensky and European leaders fly to Washington. Donald Trump has confirmed the US would be involved in security guarantees for Ukraine. Even as Zelensky is in the air, more bombs are falling on Kharkiv.
26:16Adela Knapova:That weekend, Adela and Kostya are hosting a small party to celebrate their birthdays.
26:30Albina Kovalyova:We had a birthday in Kostyantin in July when we were not together. So we decided to celebrate very quietly here in our flat in Kharkov with just some friends. Unfortunately, we wanted Marianne Peruzok, our dear friend, really dear friend, musician to be here with us, but he's just joined armed forces. is in army now. He is somewhere deep in the woods.
27:07Adela Knapova:Kostya gives a toast to absent friends.
27:21Albina Kovalyova:The song Alexander played on his Pandora and Kostya sung with him dates back to the 17th century. Drink, Brothers, Drink, that's the title. And it's a secular parody of a spiritual hymn. And it's our favorite song.
27:42Albina Kovalyova:Right now, I feel like there are two realities. The reality outside Ukraine. on Putin and Trump and Zelensky and the European leaders are talking and they're pretending the peace is coming but it's just blah, blah, blah because here in Ukraine nothing has changed the peace is not closer so for now the reason I stay here in Kharkiv is the same as why I moved here to be with Kostya I simply feel I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be and with a man who is the love of my life you know, the death is inevitable our only freedom is to choose to live our own way and I chose
From the publisher
Over the past year, BBC Eye has documented life in Ukraine’s second largest city, Kharkiv, helping to capture the deeply personal stories of those living under the continuing shadow of war. Just 30 kilometres from the Russian border, this Russian-speaking city has sustained some of the heaviest attacks of the war.
Reporter Albina Kovalyova follows the stories of people who have nevertheless chosen to continue to live in Kharkiv. One, Adela Knapova, a writer from the Czech Republic who unexpectedly found love during a visit to this frontline city last year – and who uprooted her life in Prague to move to Ukraine to be with him. He’s an artist from Kharkiv, Konstantin Zorkin, who describes his belief in the transformative power of art and love.
These personal stories of love and life are intercut with the violence Russia continues to unleash on this city of over a million people. And they are set against a shifting geopolitical backdrop, of ultimatums and recriminations and talks, as all the while the attacks on Kharkiv and Ukraine continue.
Presenter & reporter: Albina Kovalyova Producer: Louise Hidalgo Editor: Rebecca Henschke Executive Producer: Michael Simkin
Image: Adela and Konstantin (Credit: Konstantin Zorkin)
