Ukrainian soldiers, in Kyiv this week
Image: AFP
When you’re in the trenches, you don’t give a damn about diplomacy. Especially not when the negotiating partner is Russia. A writer reports from the front in Kyiv
EI finally got new glasses. I finally see something. I am assorted, and standing at the post with only a dim view of your surroundings is a dubious pleasure. I’m actually quite good at shooting: with an AK-74 I’m pretty sure I hit the targets. Aiming at the enemy from a hundred yards away is no problem for me. But my eyes aren’t good enough to see him in the dark. I have a hard time distinguishing a person from a bush, a lamppost from a poplar, or a transformer box from a dog kennel. It’s terribly exhausting. Aljona, the volunteer ophthalmologist who makes glasses, had good news for me on the phone: your glasses are ready, they’re free, take care of yourself.
Everyone in the country is helping with the defense. No one who performs any service for the soldiers takes money for it. Thousands, hundreds of thousands of people who are not directly involved in the fighting to drive out the aggressor are volunteering 24/7 to ensure that the army and civil defense can carry out their duties at all times.
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