Solutions to win: 11-year-old narrates audiobooks to raise money for Ukrainian troops

An 11-year-old Zakhar from occupied Donetsk has found a great solution to support the Ukrainian language.

Every day, he does voiceovers for audiobooks and donates all the profits to Ukrainian forces.

What is the problem?

Zakhar's family instilled a love of literature way before the war started in 2014. When his family left Donetsk, the boy was only two years old. But in 2022, Russian troops attacked his second home in southern Nikopol.

What is the solution?

After losing his home for the second time, 11-year-old Zakhar found comfort in spreading and supporting the Ukrainian language. Every day, he records audiobooks so that children can read and listen to their native language.

How does it work?

The Chernykov family found refuge in Ivano-Frankivsk, where Zakhar began his artistic career. Because of his vision problems, the boy could not devote as much time to books as he would have liked.

"What to do when books and gadgets are not available? We started looking for sources of audiobooks in Ukrainian. It turned out that, unfortunately, there were very few books in Ukrainian," said Zakhar.

This is how a new hobby appeared – creating his own audiobooks.

"Let's try to record it, and one day I'll put it online. And let's see what the response will be." I did, and it was a flurry of responses," said his mother Tetiana Chernikova.

Feeling inspired, Zakhar read book after book and posted them on social media.

After the boy received permission from his favourite author, this book is now available in audio format. He is currently narrating his thirteenth book, working for half an hour every night.

Like the others, this book was chosen by the boy's subscribers, with whom he keeps in touch on social media.

"We did a poll on our telegram channel, where our listeners chose which book they liked. And the book that got the most votes was the one we read," said Zakhar.

Followers can donate to Zakhar's account, and the boy donates most of the money to the Armed Forces.

It was the war, Zakhar says, that influenced his worldview. He wants children to read and listen to Ukrainian and dreams of becoming a dubbing actor.

Back in May 2022, Rozhyshche volunteer and activist Viktoria Shvartskop saw a performance by Ukrainian children who sang with Ukrainian and Polish flags to raise money for defenders' needs.