As a member of Ukraine’s parliament, I can tell you that our story is about one fact: you are capable of more than the world expects of you, and even of what you expect of yourself. We have been through many challenges in the 16 months since the full-scale war started, and learned much.

The first is the importance of unity. At 5am on 24 February 2022, the bombardment of Kyiv began. Across the city, political leaders and MPs were woken, and began calling each other. We knew that our responsibility was to gather in the chambers and vote for martial law to begin. We didn’t know how many people we could get in, or even how many parliamentarians were in Kyiv. We didn’t even have clearance from security to enter the building, as the Russians were trying to destroy the governance of the country.

Finally, we were allowed to enter for 10 minutes for the vote. The building of the Rada was dark, the windows covered with bags of sand. Of the 420 members of parliament, almost 300 came. And for the ten minutes we sat there desperately clicking our buttons, announcing martial law, calling for the world to help us stand, help us fight – we were holding hands and singing our national anthem. It was one of the most emotional moments of my life.

That day we made a vow. For as long as it was needed, no matter how painful it would be, we would stand together as one, putting our political differences aside for one goal: victory for our country. We have relied on this unity since.