Christmas in Kupiansk.
Is a celebration.
In name only.
Most children have been evacuated.
There is a visceral tension.
Which comes with.
Living close.
To the front line.
As you moved away from the market.
An ease in pressure was accompanied.
By a realization of how empty.
The streets were.
Mostly the elderly.
Stroll the pavements.
Through a wooden hatch.
You meet an exception.
Her father is fighting.
On the front.
And you soon grasp.
How this war has hardened her.
“When the full-scale invasion began.
We realized.
There were deaths everywhere.”
The 17-year-old says.
“Understanding this makes you.
Stronger and more resilient.
In stressful situations.
Even during shelling.”
Her family home.
In the nearby city of Izium.
Was destroyed.
So they moved here.
All of her friends.
Were forced.
To leave Kupiansk.
Long ago.
She outwardly fears very little.
But is clearly unimpressed.
With her country’s fate being determined.
By sceptical western politicians.
“I would invite them to see.
With their own eyes what it’s like here.
Then they would no longer question.
Whether aid is needed or not.”
Christmas in Kupiansk.
Is a celebration.
In name only.
Most children have been evacuated.
There is a visceral tension.
Which comes with.
Living close.
To the front line.
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.
Christmas in Kupiansk.
Is a celebration.
In name only.
Most children have been evacuated.
There is a visceral tension.
Which comes with.
Living close.
To the front line.
*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 Sofia.
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!
