I wrote this in October 2022. Things began to change. I can really see my anger in this write up.
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Just two weeks ago, aside from sirens, Kyiv, Lviv, and Rivne each felt almost normal. Today, the 10th, it does not. I am far away, in the “safety” of Uzhhorod. Yet there were strikes across the country, people bombed in their homes, on the street, and burned alive in their cars from bombs sent from Belarus. Two weeks ago I had a coffee and a smoke in Taras Shevchenko park, which was hit today, for it is “critical infrastructure” or whatever nonsense russia pronounces in their childish hissy fit.
It has been a stark reminders that the war is ongoing perhaps for some in the west. Even here, we got comfortable to an extent. Not totally, there has been an encroaching normalisation that a nuclear strike could happen, and we all know about the horrors facing the Ukrainians in the occupied regions. Soldiers die who have friends and family, everyone see bodies uncovered online and on the news, so it is not to say the war isn’t real here. Or even that anywhere in Ukraine is really safe. What I mean is that for those further away, day to day life has normalised. Bombs haven’t been raining down in Kyiv or Lviv for months. Yet today has changed that.
The mood is more somber. The elation of the explosion of the Kerch Bridge has been cut short. Ukrainians are feeling anger primarily now. People are converting this rage into money “hate conversion” it is called apparently. Myself included. I spent 100 pounds already on donations today.
I am sure that people will continue to fight, to raise money, and the rusnya will get more desperate as they lose more land. I did somewhat predict we would see more strikes deeper into Ukraine as times goes on and I hate that I was right, though I didn’t expect so many in one day. I wonder what the evening will bring. Or tomorrow. Yet, in a sense, the worse the Russians act, the more desperate they are, and the closer to victory Ukraine is.
The best thing is to see people continue to live. While I want Ukrainians to keep themselves safe, go to shelters, ensure their families and friends are safe, I cannot fault anyone who would rather go, have a coffee or a beer, and defy fear. It is resistance all the same.
I wanted to write about the positive things I have experienced since I first wrote, yet it is not for this day. You will be reading this in the future, so it only serves for me as a reminder of this time. Ultimately I just want to write “fuck russia” over and over again, but, I think once gets the point across.
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