When I ask my students on Zoom: “Who is your favorite hero?” they no longer answer “Batman” or “Naruto.” They pause, they think, and they talk about the “Ghost of Kyiv.” He is their superhero. They feel it is he who is protecting them during the horrors of this war.

Irina, 28 years old, elementary school teacher; family and city name withheld by Centropa

(note: The “Ghost of Kyiv” is the pilot of a highly secretive Ukrainian Air Force fighter jet that has brought down six Russian planes and then vanished after every kill. That is the story Ukrainian children tell themselves. And we’re sticking to it.)