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Olga Shmaidenko

@riverflowsthroughit

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made in 🇺🇦 -> 🇨🇦 ->🗽
Founder, @wow.woman.official
a proud Ukrainian 🔈🇺🇦✊🏼💪🏼
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New in the “Inside Ukraine” series: Olga Polianska, Ukrainian Artist in Rivne 🇺🇦The night before russia’s full-scale invasion, Olga Polianska was in her Rivne studio finishing an oil abstraction of flowers. At 4 a.m. she heard the rumble in the sky and knew. After spending three weeks sleeping in a basement, Olga felt the pull to return to work. Only her hands would no longer reach for oils. They reached for charcoal instead. Creating under conditions of war must be a maddening experience, as the need to express oneself competes daily with fear, anger and loss. Yet four and a half years into the full-scale war, Ukrainian artists continue to paint, sculpt, write and perform. They process trauma not only for themselves, but for the entire nation. Their work becomes evidence, therapy, resistance and hope, all at once.Invaders always come for culture first. They loot museums, bomb theaters, censor books, ban music and kill artists. That has been the pattern of russian aggression in Ukraine. They know perfectly well what history keeps proving: art is how a nation under attack refuses to disappear. Picasso’s Guernica made a bombed Basque town impossible to forget or deny. Vedran Smailović, the Cellist of Sarajevo, played Adagio in G minor for 22 consecutive days after civilians were killed while waiting in a breadline. Snipers couldn’t stop him. Ukraine’s artists are doing this work right now and paying for it. Olga remembers the 26-year-old painter Oleh Drobotsky, killed at the front, and Kostya Yuzvyuk, the volunteer who bought her war series to spread it abroad and was killed on a mission in 2024. Olga keeps painting anyway. She keeps organizing exhibitions and sheltering rescue animals (five cats, two dogs, and counting), because as she puts it, Ukrainians are like grapevines: they cling to a support and hold on to one another so the vine grows upward. This is Olga Polianska. Artist. WOW Woman. Keeper of Ukraine’s wartime experience.See the 🔗 in bio to read the interview with Olga Polianska.Proud to be Ukrainian 🇺🇦#SlavaUkraini #СлаваУкраїні ✊🏼🇺🇦📸 Olga Polianska @polianska.artist 🇺🇦👩🏼‍🔬 @riverflowsthroughit by @riverflowsthroughit

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11 days ago

New in the Inside Ukraine series: Maria Varenikova, Journalist, Chronicler of War, Kyiv 🇺🇦When russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Maria Varenikova didn’t leave. She stayed and went to work.A reporter for The New York Times, Maria has documented russia’s war against Ukraine from the tense months before the invasion through today. She carries its weight personally, with her own family in Kyiv as russia continues to bomb civilians.Maria has reported from the places that terrified the world. Bucha. Bakhmut. Zaporizhzhia. Many of the cities she covered have since been occupied or destroyed. For millions of readers, her reporting is the closest they will ever come to Ukraine.She speaks to people on the worst days of their lives and records their stories so the truth cannot be erased. She also embeds with soldiers on the front line, documenting war from inside it. In one dispatch, she described artillery troops spending days in freezing bunkers while wounded soldiers waited hours under enemy fire before medics could reach them, many developing hypothermia as they lay in the cold.In another unforgettable piece, Maria collected the messages Ukrainians sent their loved ones as the invasion began. Fear, love, and uncertainty, all compressed into a few lines of text.Maria loves Ukraine. Through her reporting, she wants the world to understand the depth, diversity, and humanity of her country. It is home.I’ve spent time reading through Maria’s body of work for The New York Times and compiled her articles below. Together, they document the anatomy of modern warfare and the crimes committed by the russian federation against Ukraine and its people. Maria helps millions understand a war too often reduced to headlines and statistics. Her reporting preserves the human stories behind the conflict and ensures they are not forgotten.That’s why she’s a WOW Woman.🔗 Read my interview with Maria Varenikova. Link in bio.Proud to be Ukrainian!#SlavaUkraini #СлаваУкраїні ✊🏼🇺🇦📸 Maria Varenikova @marichka_varenikova 🇺🇦👩🏼‍🔬 @riverflowsthroughit by @riverflowsthroughit

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24 days ago

New in the “Inside Ukraine” series: Voices of the Killed - Kateryna Savenko’s Diary, Mariupol 🇺🇦Immediately after russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, russian forces began shelling the port city of Mariupol, a strategic target for the kremlin and a personal obsession of putin. For nearly three months, russia bombed and besieged the city, destroying homes and apartment buildings and burying tens of thousands beneath the rubble (the exact toll remains unknown).This Inside Ukraine feature tells the story of one remarkable woman: Kateryna Savenko. Forever 42, Kateryna kept a thoughtful journal from the start of the invasion until March 29, when russians bombed her home and killed her husband Vitaliy. Severely injured, she survived six more days, dying on April 4 in her mother’s arms.Kateryna’s mother saved the diary notebooks, a Mariupol journalist @dedova_nataliya collected the diary pages, and Kateryna’s sister Nadiya Voloshyna gave permission to share her sister’s photos and diary images. I translated Kateryna’s words into English, building on an existing Ukrainian translation.As of June 17, 2026, four years and four months after the invasion began, Mariupol remains under russian occupation. The Ukrainian language is banned, russian passports are forced on residents, and pro-Ukrainian views can mean arrest, torture, or disappearance. Kateryna’s voice stands as a form of justice, documenting how atrocities like Mariupol were carried out by russian federation.🔗 in bio to read Kateryna Savenko’s account of the horrors in Mariupol.📸 permissions by Nadiya Voloshyna🇺🇦👩🏼‍🔬 @riverflowsthroughit #standwithukraine #supportukraine #russiawarcrimes #russianwarcrimes #mariupol by @riverflowsthroughit

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a month ago

This happened last night. Daily question I hear is: "the war is still going on?" Yes, russia is bombing daily. What would you or your country do if this was happening to your city or town? After four and a half years of daily strikes on civilian targets, Ukraine is standing and retaliating. Period. The outcome of this unprovoked attack and invasion will affect the course of our children's lives. Let's stand on the right side of history. I fundraise for Ukrainian defenders. Link in bio. Every cent, dollar and euro ends up helping procure life saving items for the people who risk their lives and help all of us. Join me. 🇺🇦 by @riverflowsthroughit

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2 months ago

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3 months ago

New in the “Inside Ukraine” series: Olga Tesliak, Military Volunteer, Business Owner, Lviv 🇺🇦Olga Tesliak runs what can only be described as her own “shtab,” a military volunteering headquarters built on experience, trust, and constant, hands-on work. From Lviv, she has created a system that supports roughly 22 military units on the front line, sourcing and delivering exactly what they need, when they need it. This is not symbolic support. This is operational. It requires speed, trust, and a level of competence that most people never have to develop.Women like Olga are a rare breed, but in Ukraine, they are not isolated. They are part of a vast, highly organized network of civilian volunteers that has become a backbone of the country’s defense. These networks move faster than institutions. They adapt in real time, learning about everything from drone systems to electronic warfare to tactical medicine. What women like Olga have built over the years is not just support. It is a parallel infrastructure that strengthens and sustains those on the front lines.But behind the personal sacrifices and time commitment is an intensity that is hard to grasp from the outside Ukraine. Olga runs a bakery that feeds people and creates moments of joy in the middle of war. Birthday and anniversary cakes are all small markers of life continuing. At the same time, she stays constantly connected to the needs of fighters, translating requests into action. She knows the details, the shortages, the urgency. She also knows loss. Many friends, brothers, people she has once helped send into battle, she has since buried. And still, she continues for those who are fighting. “I have no right to let them down or back down and stop.” This is why Olga is my WOW Woman inside Ukraine.See the 🔗 in bio for the full interview with Olga Tesliak.Proud to be Ukrainian 🇺🇦#SlavaUkraini #СлаваУкраїні ✊🏼🇺🇦📸 Olga Tesliak @oliatesliak 🇺🇦👩🏼‍🔬 @riverflowsthroughit by @riverflowsthroughit

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4 months ago

New in the “Inside Ukraine” series: Marina Pleshcheieva, Electronic Warfare Specialist, Armed Forces, Undisclosed Location 🇺🇦I first saw Marina Pleshcheieva in a video she posted. It started everything for me.The video tells a story without a single word. In it, Marina rolls up her sleeve and reveals a new tattoo on her upper arm. It is a tractor. In the next scene, she sits quietly in a military uniform, in front of a tombstone. On the stone is a man’s face. Beneath it is a tractor, identical to the one tattooed on her arm.The man is Marina’s father. He was deeply connected to Ukrainian land. When russia invaded, he enlisted to defend it. He died protecting it. russia killed him.Now Marina wears the army uniform. With a call sign “Mavka” she serves alongside tens of thousands of young Ukrainian men and women resisting russia’s full-scale invasion. Marina, who once worked in finance, now risks her life tracking, analyzing, and neutralizing threats in the sky, shielding Ukrainians from russian drones. She serves in the electronic warfare unit of the respected 93rd Brigade @93_brygada “Kholodnyi Yar”. Marina is responsible for intercepting footage from enemy drones. She sees exactly what russian operator on the other side sees and has to identify the location and relay the coordinates within seconds.What is remarkable is that Marina also runs a non-profit organization @kharkiv.4.5.0 that helps wounded veterans access rehabilitation services.Scanning her social media, you see it all: loss, pride, honour, and sacrifice. You also see love and care from her husband, her partner-in-arms, @stage_director_93 .Marina inspires and humbles us all to act. Her actions would certainly make her hero father very proud.See the 🔗 in bio for the full interview with Marina Pleshcheieva.Proud to be Ukrainian 🇺🇦#SlavaUkraini #славаукраїнігероямслава ✊🏼🇺🇦📸 Marina Pleshcheieva @pleshcheieva.m 🇺🇦👩🏼‍🔬 @riverflowsthroughit by @riverflowsthroughit

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4 months ago

New in the “Inside Ukraine” series: Maria Ivanivna Kaminska, Pensioner, Military Volunteer, Ternopil 🇺🇦When Putin attacked Ukraine, he did not count on the resistance of Ukrainian women.Maria Ivanivna Kaminska is a pensioner who uses every ounce of strength she has to climb the stairwells of her city’s apartment buildings, singing carols door-to-door and fundraising for the Ukrainian Army for four Christmases in a row. The amount of willpower it takes for someone her age to get up in the morning and, with sore feet, keep climbing those stairs for the army must be extraordinary. And for the rest of the year, she keeps just as busy. Maria Ivanivna is unstoppable.Putin thought people would lay down their weapons and capitulate. But he has not met Maria Ivanivna.From South Africa to Ukraine, mothers inspire daughters and daughters inspire their mothers. Maria’s daughter, Oksana, who now lives in Cape Town, carries that same strength. Strong Ukrainian women and the lineage they pass on is something to behold. So I asked Maria’s daughter to introduce her mother in her own words. Read both, the interview and Oksana’s words in the link.See the 🔗 in bio for the full interview with Maria Ivanivna Kaminski.Proud to be Ukrainian 🇺🇦#SlavaUkraini #СлаваУкраїні ✊🏼🇺🇦📸 Maria Ivanivna Kaminska @ma.rija7265 🇺🇦👩🏼‍🔬 @riverflowsthroughit cc. @karishakaminska by @riverflowsthroughit

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4 months ago

24 February, Labia Theatre, Cape TownOn the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion, we gathered to watch Kherson Human Safari, a documentary by @zarinazabrisky Zarina Zabrisky about life in occupied Kherson.The film reveals the reality of Russia’s crimes: occupation, deportation of Ukrainian children, the destruction of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant, and the targeting of civilians with drones. Yet it also shows resilience — people who continue to care, create, and love despite trauma and loss.After the screening, the audience connected live with Zarina for a powerful Q&A. An exhibition by @truth_hounds Truth Hounds highlighted documented drone attacks on civilians. The hall was decorated with watermelons — a symbol of Kherson, the agricultural city on the Dnipro River. Please read the interview with Zarina Zabrisky by @wow.woman.official and check the exhibition in our bio 👆🏽The evening ended in tears and gratitude from attendees originally from Kherson.“I wish people could see how beautiful Kherson was before Russia’s so-called ‘liberation,’” shared Kateryna.All donations will support Voices of Children, providing psychological rehabilitation to children affected by the war. You can donate via link in bio 👆🏽The screening was organised by the Ukrainian Association of South Africa in partnership with the Embassy of Ukraine.Thank you to everyone, especially to Olga and Keith @riverflowstroughit who made this meaningful evening possible. #savekherson #stophumansafari by @riverflowsthroughit

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5 months ago

New in the “Inside Ukraine” series: Olena Dettsel, Restaurateur, Chef, Military Volunteer, Kamianets-Podilskyi 🇺🇦She owns a small restaurant in Ukraine. When the full-scale russian invasion began, Olena Dettsel did not leave and did not wait for instructions. She stayed, opened her doors, and decided to be useful in any way she could. What started as feeding people who arrived with nothing quickly became something much larger.Within days, her work shifted to logistics, coordination, and nonstop problem-solving. Refugees, wounded soldiers, hospitals, ministries, warehouses, convoys. Olena organized food, medicine, equipment, transport, and shelter. She connected people who needed help with people who could provide it. Over time, that meant ambulances, vehicles, medical supplies, drones, and years of sustained support for the military and the wounded.True to Ukrainian ingenuity, Olena’s restaurant evolved too. It is now a Rock Sandwich Bar, serving craft beers alongside food, a place that continues to operate while the war drags on. At the same time, much of Olena’s focus shifted onto helping veterans. She helps injured soldiers access prosthetics, treatment, and long-term rehabilitation abroad, navigating paperwork, visas, hospitals, and logistics so they can recover and rebuild their lives. She does not frame this as heroism. She sees it as participation - choosing to stand up and do the work that needs to be done, every day, for as long as it takes.See the 🔗 in bio for the full interview with Olena Dettsel.Proud to be Ukrainian 🇺🇦#SlavaUkraini #СлаваУкраїні ✊🏼🇺🇦 📸 Olena Dettsel @olena_detssel @troe_v_kanoe16 @ourfoundationusa 🇺🇦👩🏼‍🔬 @riverflowsthroughit by @riverflowsthroughit

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New Post “Inside Ukrainian Heart ❤️” series. Anastasiia Thomas - “We Exist”: A Ukrainian Psychosocial Worker in Mauritius 🇺🇦🇲🇺Anastasiia Thomas grew up in Mariupol, a city that is now under russian occupation and where russian forces reportedly killed more than 100,000 Ukrainians, most of them civilians, including women and children. When the full-scale invasion began on February 24, 2022, Anastasiia was in Africa, while her parents were in Bucha, a suburb on the outskirts of Kyiv that was soon occupied by russian troops. For weeks, she did not know whether they would survive, as all communication was cut off. Although Bucha was eventually liberated by Ukrainian forces, their home in Mariupol is lost, seized by russian occupiers. The war stripped Anastasiia’s family not only of safety, but of Mariupol itself, a place of belonging. They returned to Bucha to rebuild and attempt to start their lives again.Today, Anastasiia works far from Ukraine, in Mauritius, a small African island nation where russian influence has been embedded for years. With a long-operating russian embassy, growing russian tourism, and visa-free direct travel from Moscow, the informational terrain is uneven. For a handful of Ukrainians here, telling the truth requires more effort, patience, and resolve. In this environment, Anastasiia chose the demanding work of institution-building, playing a central role in establishing the Ukrainian Association in Mauritius and creating visibility and community where little had existed. These steps may appear quiet, but they are acts of resistance. Thoughtful, measured, and precise in her responses, Anastasiia understands that credibility matters as much as conviction. Through consistency, dialogue, and presence, she helps carve out space for a Ukrainian voice where russia’s narrative has long gone unchallenged.Link in bio for the full interview with WOW Woman Anastasiia Thomas.📸by Olga Shmaidenko aka @riverflowsthroughit ✍🏼 Anastasiia Thomas @anastasiia.thomas Proud to be #Ukrainian 🇺🇦 by @riverflowsthroughit

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6 months ago

New in the “Inside Ukraine” series: Dr. Oksana Trumko, Philologist, Teaching Ukrainian in Wartime, Lviv 🇺🇦Language is never neutral in wartime. In territories occupied by russia, Ukrainian is banned and punished with torture. In free Ukraine, language has become a matter of identity, choice, and responsibility. After the full-scale invasion, thousands of primarily russian-speaking Ukrainians began switching to Ukrainian. Not symbolically, but deliberately. I was one of them.Dr. Oksana Trumko stands at the center of this shift. A philologist at Lviv Polytechnic, she teaches Ukrainian to foreigners, volunteers, and NGO workers who come to Ukraine to help. Every student carries that language into real work across the country. Oksana calls herself an ordinary woman. I disagree. Language is the gate to belonging. Since our lessons began, my confidence, pride, and connection to my country have grown.When people ask if my daughter will be bilingual, they expect an easy answer. It isn’t. My first language is russian, and I will not pass it on to her. I am reclaiming Ukrainian so I can teach my child a language that reflects who we stand with and where our future lies.That is why Oksana Trumko matters. She is not just a teacher. She helps people make conscious linguistic choices in wartime. She is my WOW Woman.See the 🔗 in bio for the full interview with Dr. Oksana Trumko.Proud to be Ukrainian 🇺🇦#SlavaUkraini #СлаваУкраїні ✊🏼🇺🇦📸 Dr. Oksana Trumko @oksanatrumko 🇺🇦👩🏼‍🔬 @riverflowsthroughit by @riverflowsthroughit

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