Voice of Ukraine

From: Maia Mikhaluk in Kyiv (679th day): When windows break from explosion waves the broken pieces of glass become like little bullets. People often use tape on their windows hoping it would help keep glass together. When Sasha and Nikita were in the hospital where Briana arrived into this world in March of 2022, the windows in the hospital rooms were barricaded by sandbags. Those were the scariest days with ruzzian invaders closing on Kyiv just a few kilometers from the maternity hospital. The explosions were heard not only from long-range missiles like now but also from ground artillery and tanks. In April 2022 ruzzian ground troops were pushed out of Kyiv and Chernihiv region. But of course, the missile terror has been continuing non-stop for almost 2 years now.

I love this picture of books barricading the windows and the caption “books save mind, soul and body”. They really do! The first few months of the war it was hard to get interested in any book. But thankfully, the appetite for books returned, especially last year during blackouts, all distractions were gone with electrical power. All we had left was reading at flashlights or candles.

You would think we read books to get distracted from our horrible reality, but I think most of the books I have read since start of the war were either newly written books about this war, about people’s experiences of first days, of occupation or of fighting against invaders or books that shed more light on centuries of Ukraine’s fight against ruzzian attempts to take over our land and to destroy our people. Reading has definitely not been for distraction or entertainment. Those books are a source of strength, resolve, a sense of unity and belonging.