OPINION: 'Great danger forces you to appreciate basic things. Small stories make up big landscapes, like going out for waffles during airstrikes. Here are some reflections on living my life during wartime,' writes mareverborum
On February 10, 2023, we were still in Kyiv, and I was once again ill with COVID. Russia continues to attack my country with missiles from jets and a frigate in the Black Sea, so I hear air raids almost constantly. But this morning, my husband woke me up and said, “Morning bombardments again, so we are going out to eat waffles.”
My parents are coming to visit, and I’ve asked them to bring just one thing—scotch tape. All over the city and throughout the country, people scotch-tape their windows. It is supposed to protect you from fragments of glass shattered by the blast wave.Is it actually effective? I don't know. As civilians, we’re learning as we go. We’re scotch-taping everything, including , our relationships with other people.
But our solidarity persisted, and we were able to secure and deliver all these boxes with medications and means of personal protection. We bought “virtual” tickets to the Mykolaiv Zoo, to provide funds to keep the animals fed. And we continued to pay our electricity bills, even though it was unclear whether we would even have a home tomorrow. That's how we created our reality.
But the Russians adapted as well. Sleep deprivation and fear have already been used as a weapon—cold, darkness, absence of water, and deprivation of means of communication came next.It’s late October 2022, and another massive attack of Russian drones has just ended. I returned from the bomb shelter—where we now have benches, blankets, yoga mats, water, and Wi-Fi—and fell asleep.
One message read: “Our illegitimate government started this bloody war, so now we don’t even have light in our homes. But we should have at least a little bit of courage, go to the streets, and overthrow the government. Friendly Russia will support us then and give us the electricity.”One Russian poster made two comical mistakes. They used the Russian words that can be translated to Ukrainian in two different ways.
Malaysia Latest News, Malaysia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
R. Kelly's new 20-year sentence adds only one year to existing 30-year termR. Kelly has been sentenced to 20 years in federal prison after being convicted on charges of child pornography and soliciting sex from a minor — but he will serve nearly the entire sentence concurrently with his existing 30-year term.
Read more »
One year later: Lehigh University graduate living in Ukraine looks back on harrowing escapeA day before Russia invaded Ukraine, a Lehigh University graduate from Mariupol, Ukraine spoke to Action News as she was taking shelter. One year later, she is back on United States soil but the journey to get here was far from easy.
Read more »
Guy Fieri’s 17-year-old spends year driving minivan, gets truckBut before his son Ryder traded his grandpa\u0027s Chrysler van for a pickup, he had to solve an elaborate scavenger hunt
Read more »
4-year-old witnessed grandmother allegedly stabbing 7-year-old sisterPolice say a 4-year-old was the only witness to the stabbing of her 7-year-old sister, allegedly at the hands of her own grandmother in the Bronx.
Read more »
Block’s Q4 Bitcoin Revenue Fell 7% Year Over Year to $1.83BBlock’s Q4 bitcoin revenue in its Cash App unit fell 7% year-over-year to $1.83 billion owing to the fall in the price of bitcoin, the company said. By NelWang
Read more »
R. Kelly's 2nd conviction extends earlier 30-year sentence by a yearA federal judge in Chicago on Thursday sentenced R. Kelly to one additional year in prison for his conviction on sex crimes, extending a 30-year sentence handed to the Grammy-winning R&B singer after an earlier trial in New York, local media reported.
Read more »