Here in Ukraine | I wondered if Russia would reward someone for this record-breaking act

Foreign countries|Here in Ukraine

Owe live here in Kharkiv near the Russian border, so the area is under constant fire. Self-guided drones with explosives fly over settlements all the time.

The news reports non-stop about the victims. Morning coffee without death news would be a strange experience.

We are so numb that it already seemed that even a forecast promising a colder weather made people more emotional.

Tlast year we learned a lesson: even though we have had to get used to hate, violence and death, we can still be surprised.

Russia attacked the village of Hroza in the Kharkiv region in Iskander.

The missile flew into a building with a cafe and a shop. At first we were told that 47 had been killed and six wounded. It was noted that the figures were not final. Of course not, they never will be, the rescue workers will find more bodies as long as they can advance in the scene of destruction.

There was a memorial service going on in that cafe. The family members, relatives and friends of the dead Ukrainian soldier had gathered to honor the memory of the deceased. There were children there.

They didn’t expect that they too would be killed.

Local news reported that most of the bodies were near the table with the picture of the deceased.

Sthe news reported that the death toll was somewhere between 47 and 51.

The authority explained in its announcement that “the number varied because body parts were found in different places”.

My friend wrote to me in a message: “I feel sick.”

He added: “50 in one fell swoop. That’s as many people as a theater auditorium.”

I replied, “Or as much as at our party last week.”

QThe employees and researchers of the morgue have collected the body parts and found out who they belonged to, a new figure will be obtained.

Maybe it was half the entire population of the village, maybe more.

For some reason, I started thinking about the concept of Key Performance Indicator, KPI. Do you feel it?

It shows how effective an employee or company is. I wonder if there are such metrics for killers.

Maybe they have an “Employee of the Month” like McDonald’s?

In any case, some boss will probably thank someone under him for this blood work too. “Keep doing what you do! 50 dead!”

Colleagues look at the creator of the feat with admiration and respect, with a touch of envy, of course.

Olen reporter but this is not a news text, this cannot be a neutral review of the situation. As I write this text, indescribable pain invades my soul, no matter how I try to distance myself. Usually some sort of mental defense mechanisms work, but now they don’t. This is my homeland, my people. A few ten kilometers from my home, there is new news, more details about the mass destruction in the village of Hroza:

“The funeral was organized by the family of the dead soldier, more precisely the son and wife of the deceased. The boy was also a soldier. The boy, as well as his mother and wife, died in the attack,” says a spokesman for the regional prosecutor’s office Dmytro Chubenko.

I open a report with a content warning. “Sensitive content.” I think with a bit of irony: The content can be sensitive, but I haven’t been that way for a long time.

The pictures look like they have looked for a long time: covered bodies lined up, the ruins of the building behind. Rescue workers looking on blankly, some smoking.

After a cigarette break, they continue their work: collecting body parts and guessing which ones belong together.

Tthis time the work is perhaps bigger than ever before. More than 50 dead civilians at once. Such a number of bodies still surprises us.

But the future forecast will not change: The killing will continue. The weather is getting colder. Chance of rain and showers.

The very next morning, the opportunity came true. In my hometown, Kharkiv, there was an explosion first, then a second time. I heard the voices. I took my camera, went outside.