As part of the project War Diaries: Unheard Voices of Ukrainian Children, new stories of Ukrainian children have been voiced by internationally recognized artists.
Ukrainian singer LELEKA, Ukraine’s representative at Eurovision 2026, read the diary of 14-year-old Mariia Zaitseva from Irpin. Her words describe nine days spent in darkness while hiding from shelling, a father who promised to call back, and a loss that forever changes the way a child sees the world.
Another diary — written by 8-year-old Yehor Kravtsov from Mariupol — was voiced by Austrian singer, songwriter and producer Cesár Sampson, a former Eurovision representative for Austria. The artist, whose voice is recognized by millions, lent it not to a stage performance but to the words of a Ukrainian child.
His participation creates a bridge between personal pain and global attention — the voice of an adult helping the world hear a child living through war.
Last year, actor Jack Gleeson, known to millions as Joffrey Baratheon in Game of Thrones, also joined the readings.
The War Diaries project records and publishes these stories so that children’s voices are not lost in the news — and so the world does not turn away.
Because when we speak together, we cannot be ignored.