August 21-27 2023. Days 543-549 of war.
Every once in a while I think that I should stop counting days here. After all this week we crossed 18 months since the russian full-scale invasion changed our world. 18 months is a lot of days to count.
But then I think about these 18 months as a series of single days. I think about endless air raids. Bombs exploding not two streets over from the house where I grew up. People living in the subway. My parents not being able to go to a bomb shelter. I think about 18 months made out of days and days of artillery hitting the city where my parents, family, and friends were. Out of surviving through uncertainties and cruel realities of war. Out of discovering what horrors russian army brings with it. And then again. And again. Out of panic attacks. Exploding mines. Faces of people lost. Growing cemeteries. Daily minute of silence. Bombed power grid and reality of a winter during the war. Out of a long road to safety, to a new normal. And then again and again. Out of building a life as refugees.
This all continues and this is why I will keep counting the days.
This week my parents celebrated Ukraine's Independence Day as refugees in Europe, with cabbage soup and calls from family and friends from all around the world. I am grateful to all who defend Ukraine, to all who support Ukraine's independence, and to all who help us in this fight for freedom and the right to exist. Thank you to all who are not indifferent!
Nova Ukraine is a non-profit organization in the United States that does some important work of supporting real people in Ukraine, medical facilities, and animal shelters. You can help them by donating or sharing a word about work that they do.
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