Some have fought Russian troops. Others have volunteered to support the resistance effort. All are dealing with how the war has altered their lives.
KYIV, Ukraine — For at least one night, they thought, they would use the basement of the university building not as a bomb shelter but as a place to twirl and hop and stomp — to celebrate their Ukrainian heritage, to again relish being young.
Positioned in a trench preparing for the Russian attack last February, the teenager didn’t have “any fear”; he had trained since he was a young boy to handle weapons and was teaching other recruits how to shoot. Yet in the weeks that followed, he got a crash course in war. He saw bullets whiz right past him. He helped evacuate civilians from a front-line town and suffered a concussion when an antitank shell exploded next to them.
Valiiev, a law student and close friend, has encountered the war far differently. When it began, his mother asked him to come stay in the small village where she and his 5-year-old brother lived near Bucha and where she hoped her older son would be safer. He said no, deciding he needed to support Ukrainian forces from Kyiv.
Valiiev’s priorities and values have shifted, he acknowledges: “Back in the day, I was wondering about something bigger — a big salary, big material things. Now I think it just doesn’t matter.” What does matter: “The possibility to just live a normal life.” Yet Maria later had a chance to volunteer on a team rebuilding a dormitory for Ukrainians displaced from the east. Doing so, she said, allowed her to “make something with my hands to help my country.”
Singapore Latest News, Singapore Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Op-Ed: Learn Ukrainian, defeat RussiaPutin seeks to erase Ukrainian identity. Replacing the Russian language with their own, Ukrainians are fighting back.
Read more »
Evidence of Russian crimes mounts as war in Ukraine drags onThe reasons are manifold, experts say. Ukrainian authorities face serious challenges in gathering air-tight evidence in a war zone.
Read more »
Evidence of Russian crimes mounts as war in Ukraine drags onTen months into Russia's latest invasion of Ukraine, overwhelming evidence shows the Kremlin's troops have waged total war, with disregard for international laws governing the treatment of civilians and conduct on the battlefield.
Read more »
Evidence of Russian crimes mounts as war in Ukraine drags onKYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ten months into Russia’s latest invasion of Ukraine, overwhelming evidence shows the Kremlin’s troops have waged total war, with disregard for international laws governing the treatment of civilians and conduct on the battlefield.
Read more »
Evidence of Russian war crimes piles up as Ukraine war drags onExperts say Russia under President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly ignored the rules established by the Geneva Conventions, a series of treaties that dictate how warring countries should treat each o…
Read more »
Evidence of Russian crimes mounts as war in Ukraine drags onTen months into Russia’s latest invasion of Ukraine, overwhelming evidence shows the Kremlin’s troops have waged total war, with disregard for international laws governing the treatment of civilians and conduct on the battlefield. Ukraine is investigating more than 58,000 potential Russian war crimes — killings, kidnappings, indiscriminate bombings and sexual assaults. Reporting by The Associated Press and “Frontline,” recorded in a public database, has independently verified more than 600 incidents that appear to violate the laws of war.
Read more »