From: Maia Mikhaluk in Kyiv (693rd day):
This photo came up in FB memories today. It was taken 9 years ago on one of our trips to war zone in the east of Ukraine. Maybe you can recognize me in this photo. It was probably in Peski or Opytnoye, Donetsk region – was close to front lines. We were making humanitarian aid trips to areas that were affected by ruzzian invasion then.
Looking at this photo and also hearing stories of photographers like Kostyantyn and Vlada Liberovy (I shared their photos yesterday) who go to the front lines these days to photograph the horrors of this war I realize that over the past 9 years, I have lost my courage to go to places where you hear whistle of bullets or where you become a target of shelling. Of course, when we take humanitarian aid to the south or east these days there are also some risks involved but we definitely for the most part don’t go to areas where the military warns us of extreme danger. For the most part these days we don’t go to places where we have to put on bulletproof vests and helmets. Back in 2014-2015 we routinely went to areas like that. We often had military escorts for protection. I can honestly say I would be too scared now to do things we did in 2014-15. I don’t know if it’s part of maturing or part of encountering war in our own home, in Kyiv. Maybe when every day life is at risk because of missile attacks, one doesn’t want to look for more risks.
But I really admire volunteers who continue working on evacuation of people from the most dangerous areas, like Avdiivka and I have great respect for photographers who risk their lives to document the horrors of the war. Not to mention the most profound appreciation for the courage, resilience, and strength of our defenders!
Voice of Ukraine 
3 responses to “1/18/2024 – I realize that over the past 9 years, I have lost my courage to go to places where you hear whistle of bullets or where you become a target of shelling”
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One year ago-
From Maia Mikhaluk in Kyiv (329th day of ruzzian invasion): Traditionally on Jan 19th some people do this crazy thing – they dive into icy water somewhere in a river or lake where a hole made just for that in the ice. It’s Orthodox church’s commemoration of the baptism of Christ (not that John the Baptist had to make hole in Jordan for Christ’s baptism!). Unfortunately the ritual is done with true meaning of the event replaced with superstitious belief that somehow diving into ice pit blessed by priest will bring health for the whole year (that is if you don’t die of pneumonia after this adventure)…
This year there is no jumping into icy water for Ukrainians. This has been incredibly mild and warm winter. Instead of our traditional -20C we have +10C today. That must be one of expressions of God’s mercy to us. In ruzzia however they are dealing with record low temperatures. In some areas in the north they see temperature dropping to -70C!
Just 41 days left till spring! Light will overcome Darkness!
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