(NewsNation) — Olia Federova is a 28-year-old Ukrainian artist who made the decision to stay in her hometown of Kharkiv as the Russian invasion rages on.

Instead of joining the 2.1 million refugees who have fled the country, she is taking shelter in the basement of her 19th century apartment building, hoping its 3-foot-thick walls will be enough to withstand a direct hit.

“It’s been a bit quieter right now in our area. We are lucky to have our house located in a not highly populated district closer to the center while the Russian aviation and artillery target more at the leaving districts a bit closer to the border of the city,” she said.

Federova says her mother was able to evacuate a border city and join her but her grandparents are still in the line of destruction.

“We are enjoying the silence right now, staying in our home flat, but we are still ready to go down to our basement once we hear an alarm,” she said.

Federova says she’s using art and writing as a tool to document her wartime experience.

“I’m writing texts that could describe and inspire people somehow,” she said. “I even cannot imagine how my art changes after this. You know, every Ukrainian artist will be associated with this war after it is finished.”

However, she says it will be “very difficult to find new ways of expressions and find new words for speaking to the world and to healing this trauma.”