Midlife cheerleaders of Ukraine refuse to be defeated by warfare : NPR

KHARKIV, Ukraine — In a mirrored basement studio on this front-line metropolis, seven ladies are practising leaping splits.

They’re of their 50s and 60s — some have grandchildren. They put on matching Ukraine T-shirts and shake silvery pompoms to the beat of “She’s A Woman” by Tom Jones.

That is Dawn, a aggressive cheerleading squad. They’ve embraced this feel-good American sport as a method to deal with excessive stress and nervousness throughout 4 years of Russia’s all-out warfare on Ukraine.

“We prepare it doesn’t matter what,” says Iryna Nesterenko, the squad’s captain. “When it is darkish, and we’re strolling by means of the road whereas all the pieces is burning. When there is not any mild. I inform my women: ‘We’re the sunshine.'”

Nesterenko, the squad’s captain, explains why they selected Dawn as their title.

“We was once afraid of the dawn,” she says. “The warfare started at daybreak. We have been typically bombed at daybreak. However I didn’t need us to be afraid. I needed us to discover a technique to rejoice.”

Iryna Nesterenko, 63, (left), captain of the Dawn cheerleading squad, and crew member Olena Zolotchenko, 57, apply make-up earlier than they compete in Kyiv through the Ukraine Cheer Cup competitors on Dec. 13, 2025.

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Since Ukraine grew to become a contemporary impartial state in 1991, after the autumn of the Soviet Union, it has embraced American tradition. Cheerleading started its rise 20 years in the past and has surged in recognition because the full-scale warfare, says Andriy Bolyak, president of the Cheerleading and Cheer Sport Federation of Ukraine.

He says many squads fled the nation after the 2022 Russian invasion.

“As of at the moment, although, we’re again to prewar numbers. That is as a result of we’ve got numerous new groups,” he says.

Bolyak attributes the rise in cheerleading’s recognition to Ukrainians in search of emotional respite from wartime stress and terror. Solely 4% of Ukrainians describe their psychological well being nearly as good, in accordance with a January survey by Helsi, the biggest medical data system in Ukraine.

Bolyak says that although kids make up many of the groups, a number of new ones are composed of ladies over 50, together with Good Girls, a crew profiled in a 2024 documentary. Like Dawn, Good Girls additionally hail from Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest metropolis, the place Bolyak says a few of the first nationwide cheerleading competitions have been held.

The Cheerleading and Cheer Sport Federation of Ukraine says the game has grown common because the full-scale invasion, as Ukrainians search emotional respite from wartime stress and terror. Most groups are made up of ladies below 18.

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Town is simply 20 miles from the Russian border.

“We have been bombed each evening”

Nesterenko has lived in Kharkiv almost all her life. She’s 63, a lifelong athlete who was once a aggressive gymnast.

She meets NPR at a Kharkiv tea home, together with two different Dawn cheerleaders and the crew choreographer.

“How are you going to distract your self throughout a warfare?” Nesterenko asks. “How about exercising with pompoms?”

She sounds lighthearted however the reality is extra painful. The warfare has traumatized each member of the crew.

Nesterenko remembers the terrifying first days of the Russian invasion in February 2022. Her residence was bombed.

“We hid within the basement for 5 days,” she says. “Then our meals ran out, our cat meals ran out, all the pieces ran out.”

She and her husband grabbed their cats and drove west. Once they returned in 2023, after Ukrainian troops drove Russian forces out of the Kharkiv area, town was now not below imminent menace of occupation. Russia, nevertheless, was nonetheless consistently attacking.

Nesterenko’s pal Inna Skryl, a chemistry trainer, instructed her the strikes got here like clockwork.

“We have been bombed each evening on the similar time,” Skryl says. “We huddled within the hallways. That pushed me into despair.”

Chemistry trainer Inna Skryl, 56, says becoming a member of the Dawn cheerleading squad helped elevate her out of a deep despair attributable to the fixed bombing of her hometown, Kharkiv, in Ukraine’s northeast.

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The 2 buddies quickly realized everybody of their circle was scuffling with excessive stress. Nesterenko noticed no finish to it.

“You suppose, tomorrow the warfare might be over, or in a month, or quickly however no no no, we live with this warfare.” she says. “So we determined to cease ready and begin dwelling.”

“We are going to heal you”

In 2024, Nesterenko introduced pom-poms to an aerobics class she was educating to buddies. One thing clicked.

“We moved as one, like a united Ukraine, all the pieces synchronized,” she says. “And instantly cheerleading was the one alternative.”

Cheerleading grew to become greater than a wartime sport to distract Nesterenko and her buddies from the warfare. The crew’s first title was Greatest Associates, Nesterenko says, as a result of the ladies lifted one another up, typically actually.

Halyna Plakhuta, a 63-year-old economist, had been a full-time caretaker through the warfare and had grown bodily fragile. She instructed Nesterenko she had a foul arm and shaky knees and would make a awful cheerleader.

“I stated, look, is there something you are able to do about that?” Plakhuta says. “And she or he made a star out of me.”

Accountant Halyna Plakhuta, 63, had a foul arm and shaky knees when she joined the Dawn cheerleading squad. She had been a full-time caretaker through the warfare and had grown bodily fragile. “Now I bounce so excessive, my granddaughter is impressed,” she says.

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Plakhuta says she will be able to now bounce excessive sufficient now to impress her younger granddaughter, who made good-luck amulets for the crew after they competed within the European championships.

Each Monday, Plakhuta joins the opposite cheerleaders within the basement studio. They embody a physician, an accountant and a beautician who makes the crew’s costumes.

Natalia Pivovarova is a 59-year-old accountant. She cared for her bedridden mom as Russian assaults blew out their home windows.

Cheerleading, she says, has been the very best remedy.

“My buddies overseas name me, saying they’re depressed,” she says. “And I say, come to Kharkiv. We are going to heal you.”

“Our greatest life”

Throughout a latest rehearsal, the cheerleaders line up behind Nesterenko, who cues a medley for his or her routine. The primary tune is by ABBA. The ladies smile and step ahead.

“We live our greatest life,” Nesterenko declares. “We could prepare underground, we could huddle in shelters from bombs, however it doesn’t matter what, that is going to be our greatest life.”

A number of weeks later, the Dawn cheerleaders arrive within the capital, Kyiv, for a nationwide competitors.

They put on navy-blue leotards and rub glitter on their faces.

“We at all times compete to win,” Nesterenko says. “However actually, we’ve got already gained.”

It’s kind of of a joke, since Dawn is the one crew within the over-25 age group competing at the moment. Nesterenko, nevertheless, is speaking a few symbolic victory, one which helped a bunch of buddies in one in every of Ukraine’s most bombed cities to flex optimism like a muscle.

“Go searching,” she says. “Take heed to all that pleasure.”

The auditorium is full of cheerleaders who’re all a long time youthful, some as younger because the Dawn squad’s personal grandchildren. The cheerleaders shriek and clap loudly as the ladies of Dawn run to heart stage, able to shine.

The Dawn cheerleading crew performs at Kyiv’s Ukraine Cheer Cup competitors on Dec. 13, 2025.

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