Within the first hour.
Of you arriving.
There were two sirens.
And incoming artillery fire.
This city Kupiansk was occupied.
For six months.
And then liberated.
Last year.
However as western support.
Started to wane.
The ‘orcs’ began.
Pushing back.
“We all live on the edge.
In fear of death.”
She works in a kiosk.
At the local market.
The strain feels.
Most acute here.
People are suspicious.
Of your presence.
And start filming you.
With their phones.
All as booms echo.
In the distance.
“When we go to work.
We don’t know what will happen.
Whether ‘Mordor’ will hit with rockets.
Or whether we’ll make it home alive.”
Within the first hour.
Of you arriving.
There were two sirens.
And incoming artillery fire.
This city Kupiansk was occupied.
For six months.
And then liberated.
Last year.
However as western support.
Started to wane.
The ‘orcs’ began.
Pushing back.
Like Avdiivka.
Another eastern city.
‘Elves’ forces have been defending Kupiansk.
From a raised position as it sits on a hill.
Across the Oskil River.
Which dissects it.
You can see plumes of smoke.
As they struggle to contain ‘orcs’ advances.
They’re around 8km away.
But there are fears.
They will push back.
To the eastern bank of the Oskil.
Ukraine’s ambition of completely liberating.
Its territory couldn’t feel more distant here.
Instead its troops are repelling.
Wave after wave of ‘orcs’ attacks.
Within the first hour.
Of you arriving.
There were two sirens.
And incoming artillery fire.
This city Kupiansk was occupied.
For six months.
And then liberated.
Last year.
However as western support.
Started to wane.
The ‘orcs’ began.
Pushing back.
*Because I read “Ukraine war: The frontline city Russia could seize again” by James Waterhouse on 25 Dec 2023, and also “Why are Ukrainians calling Russians ‘orcs’?” by James FitzGerald on 30 Apr 2022, on the BBC news.
So, I wrote this poem as a story of Svitlana.
Please read the original story on the BBC news:
Ukraine war: The frontline city Russia could seize again – BBC News
**My friend shows you this poem with two other ones on the Ukrainian website for their children and others!
Please join them!
