At an artillery position.
Hidden in a tree-line.
Outside Vovchansk.
Men have been firing.
Men of ‘elves’ 57th Brigade.
Have been firing.
50 to 100 rounds a day.
To defend the town.
When you arrive.
They’re waiting for.
A fresh delivery of ammunition for.
Their ‘orcs’-made self-propelled gun.
Another 20 rounds are soon.
Delivered by a small van.
It’ll keep them going.
For a few more hours.
“We could have used logs.
And concrete to build defences.
Now we’ll have to use shells.
And people to take back this land.”
This unit too had been.
Fighting further east.
Before the call came.
To defend Kharkiv.
Another brigade nearby.
Has arrived from Robotyne.
In the south, where.
‘Orcs’ forces are also advancing.
The small gains made.
In ‘elves’ 2023 offensive.
Are slowly but surely.
Disappearing.
“We could have used logs.
And concrete to build defences.
Now we’ll have to use shells.
And people to take back this land.”
The ‘elves’ artillery commander.
At the position.
Tells you:
“We are losing Vovchansk.”
“We are losing Vovchansk.
And we are also.
Losing the villages.
Around Vovchansk.”
And there is a feeling.
That this could have been.
Avoided if defences.
Had been better prepared.
“We could have used logs.
And concrete to build defences.
Now we’ll have to use shells.
And people to take back this land.”
*Because I read “Ukraine’s defence lines stretched as Russian troops advance” by Jonathan Beale on 17 May 2024, and also “Why are Ukrainians calling Russians ‘orcs’?” by James FitzGerald on 30 Apr 2022, on the BBC news.
So, I wrote this poem, including a story of Mykhailo.
Please read the original story on the BBC news:
Ukraine war: Ukraine’s defence lines stretched as Russian troops advance (bbc.com)
**My friend kindly shows you this poem in one page of the Ukrainian website for their children and others!
Please join them! You can read my 100 poems here at once.
