This Ukraine TikTok Influencer Went From Sharing Photo Tips To War Reporting In Just A Week

Ukrainians are turning to TikTok to share what life in a 21st-century war zone looks like, and it's safe to say they've had their lives turned upside down by Russia's sudden invasion.

TikTok influencer Valeria Shashenok, aka @valerisssh, has been using the app to show her followers what's it like to live in a city under attack by Russian missiles.

Shashenok used to fill her feed with style tips and videos of her photography trips, but in less than a month, she's had to leave behind her old life and move into a bomb shelter with her parents, their dog and another family in the northern city of Chernihiv, the Toronto Star reports.

Now, her reality consists of hiding away underground and making trips out into her artillery-damaged city, as her TikTok videos show.

Shashenok's TikTok feed shows how war affects all the little things in life, like cooking at home, grocery shopping and dealing with pets that are freaked out.

Her most viral video, which has amassed almost 25 million views, shows her "typical day in a bomb shelter," and there is nothing ordinary about it at all.

In the video, she shows her routine, which includes using a heat gun as a blow dryer, watching her mom cook, going outside for some fresh air and of course, taking a quick look around to "check what Putin [did] with my city."

The best part about the video has to be her confused dog, who "can't understand why we live underground."

One user commented, "Imagine students watching this in a history class."

Another video shows what it's like doing grocery shopping, and it looks like there's not much shopping to do, given that the shelves are literally empty.

A comment says, "You know a product is bad when its not wanted and still on the shelfs during a war."

In a separate video, she shared that her family has been eating rice cakes in the place of bread because you have to stand in line for two hours to get your hand on the popular grocery item.

Other videos show how her mom prepares traditional Ukrainian meals in their bunker with a few kitchen utensils, a pot and a portable induction cooktop on the ground.

In her less lighthearted videos, she documents the destruction the war has caused in her city, including a Russian missile that tore down one of the oldest buildings in her city, a cinema that had even survived World War II.

"Cinema was damaged by rocket 9K720 Iskander [that] came from Russia," she wrote in the video.

"I spent my childhood here, thanks Russia," she captioned it.

Shashenok has been doing a bunch of media interviews since her TikTok account took off.

"If someone told me that Russia will start the war in Ukraine and I will give interview for [CNN]," she wrote in a recent TikTok, "I'd never have believed!"