Ukrainian soldiers defend the last scrap of the Luhansk Oblast. Soon, it too may fall into the hands of the Russians. Thick black smoke rises above the area. A Ukrainian refinery, bombed by the Russians, has been burning for several days in the vicinity of Lysychansk. The refinery is surrounded by picturesque canola fields – canola, like sunflower, is one of the key crops for local agriculture. …
After calls by the President of Ukraine, volunteers from abroad have joined the fight against Russia. Among them are Poles. Not only Ukrainian soldiers are stationed in the dense forest, where the singing of birds mixes with the roar of artillery. One team is preparing positions. They dig deep. This is due to a Colombian who prepared for battle in the jungle. “His first time, he dug …
YAROSLAV HRYTSAK, Ukrainian historian: With his rockets, Putin is also destroying the pro-Russian orientation in Ukraine. Today it is associated with the war and its consequences. PAWEŁ PIENIĄŻEK: How did February 24 find you? JAROSŁAW HRYCAK: At six thirty in the morning, I was awakened by a phone call from Myroslav Marynovych [vice-rector of the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv, social activist – ed.]. He said that …
Not everyone wants to leave the Donbas, which is threatened by war. Some residents are ready to stand up for it. Like Julia, a 34-year-old Information Technology lecturer who volunteered for the territorial defense after the attack on Kramatorsk. It was another day of evacuations from Kramatorsk, a city of 150,000 residents, in eastern Ukraine. 34-year-old IT lecturer Julia Dovinova wanted to help somehow. All her volunteer …
The Russians are preparing for a major offensive in the Donbas. Missiles and rockets fall on front-line towns every day. Shot-up and burnt-out buildings, broken windows, rubble scattered all over, the thunder of cannons and the whistle of missiles have already become part of the landscape of Severodonetsk, the temporary capital of the Luhansk oblast. Until recently, over 100,000 people lived in the city. Now less than …
The Russians are shelling Kramatorsk. During one of the nighttime attacks, 25 civilians were injured. It was after three o’clock when two loud explosions rang out. Viktoria, 54, went outside to smoke. She quickly finished her cigarette because it was chilly out and went back to bed, covering herself with a duvet. A moment passed. There was a flash, a boom, and dirt, glass and rubble pelted …
As a result of the Russian invasion, more localities in Ukraine are under fire, and the number of civilian casualties is growing rapidly. Around 4 PM, something made an awful bang. Sixty-one-year-old Anatoly and his wife Svitlana leapt to their feet. The electricity went off immediately. Anatoly went outside and saw that the wall of his house was pockmarked by shrapnel;so was the car. There was no …
Although the Russian army is already on the outskirts of the city, inhabitants of the Ukrainian capital try to find a new normality. They have already developed new bonds of solidarity. Not far from the city center, the trendy restaurant Dubler is very busy. Not a moment goes by without someone coming or going. Some bring food, others take cartons full of food. The chef and the rest …
For the second day in a row, the inhabitants of Kyiv were awakened by explosions destroying civilian buildings. It was almost five when the 62-year-old Kateryna was again closing her eyes. Minutes earlier, she had been awakened by sirens warning of an air raid or rocket attack. She did not go down to the basement, she was lying in bed. The sirens howl several times a day, …
Despite pleas from their families, some people don’t want to leave the shelled city. Only when the war ends, or when they finally leave, will they feel what they lived through here. The phone rings more than forty times within three quarters of an hour. In addition, twenty four year old Tetiana Holubova receives countless instant messages; All from people needing help. Her number spread on the …
