Author: Kurama

Streets are now. Often coated. In darkness. At night.     Families with young children. Living on the top floors. Of apartment blocks. Have been left.   Without working lifts. Leaving them to. Walk up dozens of. Flights of stairs.     Streets are now. Often coated. In darkness. At night.     Nationwide power […]

Sometimes she looks. To the sky. And speaks to him. The love of her life.   As far as she knows. Her husband’s body remains. At the Azovstal steel plant. In the now-occupied city.     A 33-year-old. Had been sheltering. In the enormous. Azovstal steelworks.   The final stronghold. In the city. As it […]

An eight-year-old girl. Is still in Kharkiv. Living in the middle. Of a bomb site.     When ‘orcs’ troops first. Advanced in the region. Two years ago. It was right in the firing line.   And she was sheltering. With her family. In their basement. “It was very scary.”   “I just thought. When […]

He’s taped a prayer. Above his bed. Which he recites. Each night.   For his father’s safety. Who is on the front line. Though he was never. Religious before.     He is getting drawing. Advice remotely. From his dad. Who is on the front line.   Who is on the front line. Close to […]

It’s the first time. She’s heard his voice. Since he died. Her chin trembles with emotion.   At 12 years old. She is learning. To walk again. At 12 years old.     Timid steps at first. But more confident. With each one. She takes.   Last summer. An ‘orcs’ missile attack. Shattered one of […]

In the war’s third year. No end is in sight. Momentum in long wars. Shifts back and forth.     Wounded men from. The garden centre. Lying in hospital beds. With shattered limbs.   “Honestly. I don’t know what will happen.” His legs were crushed. By the ceiling as it collapsed.   “I’d like it […]

She believes her life was. Saved by pallets of. Printed paper that took. The worst of the explosion.   She was emotional. Sobbing then trying to smile. Traumatised by everything. That has happened to her.     A body bag was. Being carried out of. The remains of. A burning print factory.   Less than […]

She travels to. Front-line villages. To try and evacuate residents. At risk of ‘orcs’ fire.   ‘Mordor’ has been on the offensive. In the Kharkiv oblast. Or province, since its forces. Crossed the border on 10 May.     You followed her and her minibus. Into the border area. Staying well clear. Of Vovchansk.   […]

The kindergarten was on fire. When she drove down. A dirt road into. The hamlet of Yurchenkove.   North-east of Kharkiv city. And close enough to. The ‘orcs’ border. To feel very dangerous.   She is a psychologist. She has spent a year. Going into. Front-line villages.   Threatened by ‘orcs’. To evacuate civilians. No […]

As the building burned. Sending black smoke. Across Kharkiv. He looked on in despair.   Two glide bombs destroyed. A DIY superstore. And garden centre. On Saturday afternoon.     He, a manager of one of. The other stores. In the shopping centre. Looked on in despair.   “The ‘orcs’ want to burn. Everything down. […]