This week marks three years since a full-scale invasion of russian army into a sovereign Ukraine began. Three years ago we did not believe in what was happening. Three years ago we did not believe it could last this long. Three years ago my parents were living in their apartment in the center of Kharkiv and heard the first explosions in their city. My Mom was still working at the University where she started to work in 1963. She lived in this apartment all her life - since she returned with her parents from the evacuation in 1943 during World War II. Dad lived in this apartment since 1973. Because of health reasons, they could not go to the shelter when the bombing started. Kharkiv received a daily bombing during the first year of the war and continues to be pummeled to this day. My parents stayed home for as long as they could but as it was harder and harder to support them with food, medicine, and basic needs, as the power grid was targeted and electricity and heating became uneven, they joined thousands of people displaced by this war and eventually came to the United States on United for Ukraine Program.
In the last three years, they moved from one temporary home to another 6 times. Their beloved Ukraine was attacked a countless number of times. An unimaginable number of people died. Every Ukrainian lost someone, everyone was displaced in some way. And everybody wants the war to end and tries to do something - even from afar. My parents try to do something too - they pay their utilities as if they live in the apartment - to support the budget of Ukraine, they support friends and family members by calling, texting, and sending what little money they have, what little hope they can master. They keep Ukrainian language alive, they have Ukrainian flag on their walker and outside their window. They stay on top of all the news and never stop believing in Ukraine, and its right to exist and defend itself.
Nobody wants this war to end as Ukrainians do. But submitting to the aggressor will not end this war - just delay of continued aggression.
The image below is a look at my drawn history of this war - through my parents. I started drawing them during our video calls when the war began. You can see all of these and read transcripts here:
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