Daria Luhova

“They attacked our school once, and a missile came flying toward us. The firefighters came. I started crying. When I got home, I didn’t cry anymore.” Seven-year-old Alex knows what Russian attacks sound like. But some of his classmates don’t even know what fireworks are. In Kyiv, explosions and air raid sirens are more familiar to kids these days.

For months, residents of Russian-occupied Oleshky have been living without regular food deliveries or access to essential medicine. Some have reportedly been forced to eat grass, pigeons, and even dogs to survive. Now, a temporary ceasefire secured through the US offers hope of humanitarian aid and evacuation. 

By the time they escaped Russian-occupied Oleshky, the elderly couple had been eating grass to survive. The grandmother could walk only 20 or 30 steps before collapsing. Ahead of them were 25 kilometers of mined roads and Russian drones. 

“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.”