Voice of Ukraine

From: Ira Kapitonova in Kyiv (Day 1031)

O Israel, hope in the Lord!
For with the Lord there is steadfast love,
and with him is plentiful redemption.
Psalm 130:7

Today was going to be an uneventful day, with our school’s annual Christmas program and the beginning of Christmas break. Our 3rd and 4th graders were preparing a Christmas play about the true meaning of Christmas, so our son woke up early, even before my alarm went off. Minutes after my alarm clock, the air raid alarm went off. The whole of Ukraine was under the threat of ballistic missiles. And then explosions came. They were loud even though we knew it wasn’t too close. We got comfy on our mattress and tried to distract ourselves with funny cat videos. The sirens cleared in about an hour, so we proceeded with our initial plans, got ready, and went to our Christmas program.

Five missiles were hit by our air defense, which means they did not reach their intended targets and caused less destruction. Yet the speed of a ballistic missile and its fuel, as well as warhead, can still cause a lot of damage even after it turns to debris. This time, they were targeting the downtown part of Kyiv: an old and beautiful Catholic cathedral, hotels, embassies, educational institutions, business centers, residential buildings… Lots of cars caught fire in the street…

I don’t know if it’s still called resilience, but it’s still a miracle for me that this did not paralyze us, and life went on as soon as possible. Someone said it’s because we’ve overcome the war inside of us, and even though we’ll never get used to this barbaric terrorism, it’s not new and impressive anymore.
But the scars of our beloved Kyiv break my heart.

How do you survive in these parallel universes? Explosions in the morning. Wonderful Christmas program. Smiles of children and Christmas decorations. Long ovations to the military in the audience. Charitable Christmas fair to fundraise for a 3-year-old boy with severe disabilities who lives in an orphanage in Kyiv. A minute of silence to honor the fallen soldiers.
That’s life in Ukraine in a nutshell.

Today’s pictures were taken by Serhiy Korovainyi, Serhii Nuzhnenko, and Yan Dobronosov.