In 2014, Olesya took a break from dancing for the first time to go to Donbas and see the situation with her own eyes. Then she brought books in the Ukrainian language to the east of the country.

Three years ago, the artist's husband died in the east of Ukraine. He was killed by russian mercenaries. So in February, when russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began, Olesya realized that she had to do something.

"I could shoot. This is my hobby. I knew that if there was a full-scale invasion, I would not go abroad. I would fight," the artist says.

DEFENSE OF THE COUNTRY
Olesya Vorotnyuk stood up for the defense of Kyiv from the first days. At first, she took out civilians - friends, women with children. After that, she decided to join the territorial defense forces. However, getting there was not easy. Almost every citizen wanted to register and preference was given to men with military experience.
But later she was accepted into the ranks of Teroboronov soldiers.

"It was a nightmare. The fear of saboteurs was everywhere," Olesya recalls and notes that this is the only place she wanted to be - in the custody of the Ukrainian state.
Ballerina Vorotniuk became a soldier

RETURN TO BALLET
At the beginning of June, Olesya Vorotniuk decided to return to ballet. Ahead of her is the play "Dragonfly" (Die Libelle) by Joseph Strauss.

Although now her life is dancing, the artist knows that she can be called into service at any moment. So Olesya does not leave shooting training.

"There was such a myth about great russia, about its great army. But after all the looting and looting, we see the truth: they come here to steal our toilets," concluded Olesya.