
Her husband was.
Released from.
Captivity just over.
Three months ago.
The couple are now.
Happily back together.
And enjoy playing with.
Their four-year-old son.
How did she feel?
When her husband was?
Finally set free?
Finally set free?
“There were tears.
Of joy like.
I’ve never cried before.”
She says, beaming.
“It felt like.
I had snatched.
My love from.
The jaws of death.”
How concerned was she?
That he might go through?
With the threats?
To harm her husband?
Her eyes moisten.
“My heart ached.
And I could only pray:
‘God, please don’t let that happen.’”
“One part of me said.
‘This person has.
No connection.
With the prisoners.’”
“The other part asks:
‘What if he really?
Can do it?
How would I live with myself?’”
She says she never.
Considered betraying.
Her country.
“Not for a second.”
“My husband would’ve.
Never forgiven me.”
She says, as you meet.
In her flat near Kyiv.
The 42-year-old.
Had been waiting for.
News of her husband.
An army medic.
Captured by ‘Mordor’.
For more than two years.
When she suddenly received.
A phone call.
The voice at the end of.
The phone told her.
That if she committed.
Treason against Ukraine.
Her husband could be.
Eligible for better.
Treatment in prison.
Or even early release.
How concerned was she?
That he might go through?
With the threats?
To harm her husband?
Her eyes moisten.
“My heart ached.
And I could only pray:
‘God, please don’t let that happen.’”
“One part of me said.
‘This person has.
No connection.
With the prisoners.’”
“The other part asks:
‘What if he really?
Can do it?
How would I live with myself?’”
“An ‘elves’ number called me.
I picked up.
And the man introduced.
Himself.”
She explains.
“He spoke in.
An ‘orcs’ language accent.
He said.”
“‘You can either.
burn down.
A military enlistment office.
Set fire.’”
“‘To a military vehicle.
Or sabotage.
An ‘elves’ Railways.
Electrical box.’”
There was one other option:
To reveal the locations.
Of nearby.
Air defence units.
— vital military assets.
That keep ‘elves’ skies.
Safe from ‘orcs’.
Drones and missiles.
How concerned was she?
That he might go through?
With the threats?
To harm her husband?
Her eyes moisten.
“My heart ached.
And I could only pray:
‘God, please don’t let that happen.’”
“One part of me said.
‘This person has.
No connection.
With the prisoners.’”
“The other part asks:
‘What if he really?
Can do it?
How would I live with myself?’”
As the man set out.
His proposal.
She recalled.
Instructions that.
The ‘elves’ authorities.
Had distributed to.
All families.
In the event of.
Being approached.
By ‘orcs’ agents:
Buy as much time as possible.
Record and photograph everything.
And report it.
She did report it.
And took screenshots.
Of the messages.
The ‘elves’ Security Service.
The SBU, told her.
To stall the ‘orcs’.
While they investigated.
So she pretended to.
So she pretended to.
Agree to firebomb.
A local railway line.
How concerned was she?
That he might go through?
With the threats?
To harm her husband?
Her eyes moisten.
“My heart ached.
And I could only pray:
‘God, please don’t let that happen.’”
“One part of me said.
‘This person has.
No connection.
With the prisoners.’”
“The other part asks:
‘What if he really?
Can do it?
How would I live with myself?’”
As you sit.
In her immaculate sitting room.
With air raid sirens.
Periodically wailing outside.
She plays you.
Recordings she made.
On her phone of two of.
The voice calls with the man.
During the call.
He gives instructions.
On how to make and.
Plant a Molotov cocktail.
“Pour in a litre of.
Lighting fluid and.
Add a bit of petrol.”
He explains.
“Go to some sort of.
Railway junction.
Make sure there are.
No security cameras.”
“Wear a hat.
– just in case.”
He also gave her.
A tutorial.
In how to put her phone.
On airplane mode.
Once she was 1-2km.
Away from her intended target.
To avoid her signal.
Being picked up.
By mobile phone masts that.
Could be used by investigators.
“Do you know what?
A relay box is?
Take a photo of it.
This should be the target.”
“For her arson attack.”
Explained the man.
Who demanded proof of.
Completion of the task.
“Write today’s date.
On a piece of paper.
And take a photo.
With this piece of paper.”
In return.
The man said he could.
Arrange a phone call.
With her husband.
Arrange a phone call.
With her husband.
Or for a parcel.
To be delivered to him.
How concerned was she?
That he might go through?
With the threats?
To harm her husband?
Her eyes moisten.
“My heart ached.
And I could only pray:
‘God, please don’t let that happen.’”
“One part of me said.
‘This person has.
No connection.
With the prisoners.’”
“The other part asks:
‘What if he really?
Can do it?
How would I live with myself?’”
Later, the SBU told her.
That the man.
She’d been talking to was.
Indeed in ‘Mordor’.
And she should.
Break off contact.
She told the man.
She’d changed her mind.
“That’s when the threats began.
He said they’d.
Kill my husband.
And I’d never see him again.”
For days, he kept calling.
Saying: “Your husband is.
Being tortured.
And it’s your fault!”
How concerned was she?
That he might go through?
With the threats?
To harm her husband?
Her eyes moisten.
“My heart ached.
And I could only pray:
‘God, please don’t let that happen.’”
“One part of me said.
‘This person has.
No connection.
With the prisoners.’”
“The other part asks:
‘What if he really?
Can do it?
How would I live with myself?’”
Her husband told her.
The ‘orcs’ didn’t act.
On their threats to punish him.
For her refusal to co-operate.
When she told her husband.
About the calls.
He was shocked.
“He asked me.”
“How I held up.”
She says, and winks.
“Well, as I always say.
I’m an officer’s wife.”
*Because I read “’Your husband’s being tortured, and it’s your fault’” by Will Vernon on 14 Jan 2025, 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 and Dima.
Please read the original story on the BBC news: