Daria Luhova

“When our village was liberated, we came back with my sons. There were no windows, no doors, no roof. I went to a neighbor’s house to borrow a ladder. On my way back, I stepped on a petal mine in the yard. I didn’t even realize what had happened. I just looked down and saw that my big toe had already been blown off and everything was covered in blood.”

For more than four years, troops from the UK and 13 other countries have been training Ukrainian recruits, commanders, and instructors as part of an operation known as Interflex. Want to see what it has looked like? A photo exhibition featuring the operation over the years has opened in Kyiv and Lviv.

“Destroying books in Ukraine is one of Russia’s main goals because they are the hardest thing to replace. Destroyed food products can be brought in from other regions. Some things can be imported. But Ukrainian books cannot be imported. A book is a unique product of every country.” 

For the past week, Kyiv has faced almost nonstop attacks, with Shahed drones flying over the city and missiles striking at times. Still, life goes on. And that means children, too, have to keep living through what is supposed to be an ordinary part of childhood—going to school. One of them is a six-year-old Robert from Kyiv. 

On August 29, thousands of tables appear across Ukraine and around the world, set for those who gave their lives for the country and will never return. For the fourth year in a row, the Memory Table initiative brings this tradition of remembrance to public spaces. This year, nearly 6,000 establishments in Ukraine and 17 other countries have joined. 

“When you bury someone you love, you see their body. But I buried a closed coffin. What was I burying? Whom?”