Through the Looking-Glass.
And what Alice found there.
The chessmen were walking about.
Two and two!
Through the Looking-Glass.
And what Alice found there.
Through the Glasses.
And what he found there.
A 21-year-old history student.
At Donetsk National University.
Was reading international relations.
And enjoyed swimming.
On the first day of.
‘Orcs’ full-scale invasion.
Of Ukraine.
On 24 February 2022.
The authorities in the self-proclaimed.
Donetsk People’s Republic.
Forcibly mobilised him.
And despatched him.
To the Kharkiv region.
Just a month later.
On 25 March.
He went missing in action.
Of the 18 soldiers.
In his unit.
None returned.
13 were killed.
And five were taken prisoner.
Four months later.
Following a prisoner exchange.
Those who had survived.
Confirmed that.
The history student had been.
one of the 13 killed.
In combat.
Through the Looking-Glass.
And what Alice found there.
The chessmen were walking about.
Two and two!
Through the Looking-Glass.
And what Alice found there.
Through the Glasses.
And what he found there.
His story mirrors.
Those of.
Thousands of.
Other residents.
From the self-declared.
Donetsk and Luhansk.
People’s Republics.
Created in 2014.
By ‘orcs’-backed separatists.
In the predominantly.
‘Orcs’ language-speaking parts.
Of eastern Ukraine.
With the full-scale ‘orcs’ invasion.
In 2022.
Civilian men were drafted.
En masse.
Often inadequately trained.
And poorly equipped.
Before being assigned.
To near-impossible missions.
This resulted.
In a staggering number.
Of dead and.
Missing soldiers.
The fate of whom.
Often remains.
Unknown for months.
Or years.
Through the Looking-Glass.
And what Alice found there.
The chessmen were walking about.
Two and two!
Through the Looking-Glass.
And what Alice found there.
Through the Glasses.
And what he found there.
*Because I read “Invisible Losses: Tens of thousands fighting for Russia are dying unnoticed on the frontline in Ukraine” by Olga Ivshina on 23 Feb 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 Daniil Dudnikov, led by ‘THROUGH the LOOKING-GLASS’ written by Lewis Carroll, you know.
Please read the original story on the BBC news:
