Author: Kurama

A heavily pregnant woman. Being carried. On a stretcher. Through the rubble.   After the maternity hospital. In Mariupol was bombed. It has become a defining photograph. Of the war in the Ukraine.   It symbolised the true horror. Of the conflict and. For a while, no-one knew. Who she was.     “She loved […]

“When we finally escaped and saw. The ‘elves’ fighters and the flag. When we heard ‘elves’ language. Everyone in the bus started to cry.”   “The city does not exist anymore. Even walls. Just huge piles of ruins. I could never have imagined such violence.”     They managed to flee Mariupol last week. Arriving […]

A 34-year-old history teacher. Had his phone confiscated. At a checkpoint as he tried. To leave Mariupol in late March.   The soldiers came across the word “ruscist”. A play on “Russia” and “fascist”. In a message to a friend. The soldiers slapped and kicked him.   And “everything happened. Because I used that word.” […]

“‘Orcs’ told me: ‘You can eat your passport. It doesn’t matter. This matters.’”   A filtration slip saying. He was fingerprinted at Manhush. A village about 20km west. Of Mariupol, on 13 May.     A 33-year-old says. Those who paid could go through the process faster. He had gone through filtration. When he lived […]

Like many ‘elves’. Trying to leave ‘orcs’-occupied areas. A 28-year-old marketing officer was forced. To go through a process called filtration.   He watched anxiously. As ‘orcs’ soldiers connected his mobile. To their computer. Trying to restore some files.   He was attempting to leave Mariupol. He had deleted everything. He thought an ‘orc’ soldier […]

Late one night in early April. An ‘elf’ military medic was travelling. Towards a combat position in Mariupol. With soldiers from her unit.   The fighting was close; the sound. Of gunfire and bombs came from every direction. One of them could have hit. Their vehicle at any moment.   It was freezing and pitch […]

“I want to shout to the whole world. To stop all this. To stop this bloody war. As soon as possible.”   “I want ‘orcs’ to know. How their husbands. Their sons, their parents. Are torturing ‘elves’.”   “How are we guilty? We are hardworking. Peaceful people. We don’t disturb anyone.”   “How do I […]

‘Elves’ military was more cautious. In declaring victory in Bilohorivka. Given that control over towns and villages. Has proved tenuous in the past.   But while only a small village. It would be a potent signal that. ‘Mordor’ no longer has full control. Of the Luhansk region.   Which along with Donetsk. Makes up Donbas. […]

A new ‘elves’ flag was flying atop. A captured ‘orcs’ T72 tank. Parked by the roadside. In the strategic town of Lyman.   Some ‘orcs’ fighters joke bitterly that. The “special military operation”. As ‘orcs’ government publicly terms. It “has no goals. It only has a path”.   Later the volunteers manoeuvred the remains. Into […]

Witnessing the visible trauma. In the village of Kreshchenivka. Is one of those moments. When this war feels utterly mindless.   The villages here are mostly destroyed. From both their occupation and recent liberation. Despite the eerie quiet and visible destruction. There is movement.     “Those ‘orcs’ said they were liberators. They just started […]