‘Orcs’ captured the land.
‘Orcs’ captured, but he’s back to.
‘Orcs’ captured the land.
“I am ready to continue my fight.”
In a hospital bed in his home city, Poltava.
His pelvis is supported by metal scaffolding.
His recovery should take around eight months.
Despite the concerned look on his mother’s face.
He has no doubt what he wants to do next.
“It could be both at the frontline or somewhere else.”
“I’ll help the army to bring victory over ‘orcs’ closer.”
A smiling 25-year-old soldier.
Suffered many injuries while trying to defend Mariupol.
‘Orcs’ captured the land.
‘Orcs’ captured, but he’s back to.
‘Orcs’ captured the land.
“Turning my head, I saw that a tank was aimed at me.”
“When a tank fires, no time between exit and arrival.”
“Either shout and be helped or die under this rubble.”
“Every cry was an extraordinary effort.”
“After three to four screams, I heard the guys saying.
‘We are here, we’ll help you’.”
His comrades saved his life and took him to a field hospital.
“There were around a dozen guys from different units.”
The doctors told that in order to save their life.
They’d be passed to ‘orcs’ who were taking more of Mariupol.
‘Orcs’ captured the land.
‘Orcs’ captured, but he’s back to.
‘Orcs’ captured the land.
In his hometown of Poltava, the church prayed for him.
More marines from Poltava who went missing in Mariupol.
“I knew there were only two ways out of Mariupol:
death or captivity,” says the city’s Archbishop.
“I knew that God had performed a miracle.”
He appeared with other ‘elves’ prisoners on a social media.
“He was in a difficult condition, with numerous fractures.”
A broken pelvis and jaw, and lost vision in one eye.
The Archbishop was worried, but relieved to see him alive.
“God answered our prayers. I was confident.”
‘Orcs’ captured the land.
‘Orcs’ captured, but he’s back to.
‘Orcs’ captured the land.
“Some nurses would bring food and feed me.
As I couldn’t sit and had my jaw broken.”
“The others would put the food down and say: ‘Try and eat.’”
“The food stayed for several hours untouched.”
“She came back asking if I was full and took it back.”
“We were there without any anaesthetics.”
“I believed I had to survive; it was all I could do.”
He didn’t feel angry towards them.
“They lived under ‘orcs’ propaganda for eight years.
The hatred I experienced was a result of this.”
‘Orcs’ captured the land.
‘Orcs’ captured, but he’s back to.
‘Orcs’ captured the land.
He remembers ‘trolls’ and ‘orcs’ guarding them.
‘Trolls’ would come at night and taunt him running a knife along his body.
Watched by ‘orcs’, ‘trolls’ said.
“Too bad it is forbidden to cut off your ear.”
Eventually taken to ‘Mordor’ and then flown to Crimea.
Where he’ll never forget what an ‘orc’ told him.
17 days after his ordeal started.
“If you follow my orders, you’ll be in Ukraine this evening.”
Loaded onto an ambulance and taken to ‘elves’ territory.
As part of an agreed prisoner exchange between Ukraine and ‘Mordor’.
‘Orcs’ captured the land.
‘Orcs’ captured, but he’s back to.
‘Orcs’ captured the land.
He was taken north to a hospital in Zaporizhzhia.
Under ‘elves’ control, onto his home city in the north.
Tears were falling down his face when he realised back home.
He was one of a dozen ‘elves’ troops returned.
All marines from different units injured.
While defending the Illich steel works in Mariupol.
“Another driver approached and said:
‘Calm down, you are in Ukraine now’.”
“I was very happy, I couldn’t even believe that
I was in Ukraine, a place where you can breathe freely.”
‘Orcs’ captured the land.
‘Orcs’ captured, but he’s back to.
‘Orcs’ captured the land.
*Because I read “How a Ukrainian prisoner of war survived Russian captivity and made it home” By James Waterhouse in Poltava, Ukraine, on 1 June 2022, and also “Why are Ukrainians calling Russians ‘orcs’?” by James FitzGerald on 30 April 2022, on the BBC news.
So, I wrote this poem as a story of Hlib Stryzhko and his mother Olesya and Archbishop Fedir.
Please read the original story on the BBC news:
How a Ukrainian prisoner of war survived Russian captivity and made it home – BBC News
**My friend shows you this poem also on the Ukrainian website for their children and others!
Please join them!
