Hi!
It's a bit gloomy headline today. But it describes the reality we have in Ukraine now. russians kill children (adults as well, of course) and destroy our energy infrastructure. Often, homes without children and power don't have walls, either.
I am writing to you surrounded by generous spring sun rays. It is warm and green outside. But these bright colours cannot hide our current reality.
A few words about the photos you will see in this letter. I will show you the pictures of a Ukrainian photographer, ethnographer, folk writer and artist, Paraska Plytka-Horytsvit (1927-1998). She is called Homer Hutsul. What is Hutsul? It is an East Slavic ethnic group spanning parts of western Ukraine (mainly the Carpathian Mountains). I will tell you shortly about Paraska in the second part of the letter.
The photo and the next ones are from the archive of Paraska Plytka-Horytsvit
Let's jump into today's week in Ukraine. I will focus on two topics: russia kills our children; russia attacks our critical infrastructure, and what the world does.
Before I write about it, I want to specify that the situation in Ukraine is really hard now. Commander-in-Chief of Ukraine's Armed Forces Oleksandr Syrskyi recently said:
The situation on Ukraine's eastern front has ‘significantly deteriorated in recent days’ amid an intensification of russia's offensive efforts.
The Ukrainian military is facing a shortage of ammunition, which has been worsened by an ongoing impasse in Congress over US aid.
RUSSIA KILLS UKRAINIAN CHILDREN
The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine verified that at least 604 civilians were killed or injured in Ukraine in March 2024, a 20 per cent increase compared with February 2024.
At least 57 children were killed or injured in March, doubling the number from February. These casualties resulted particularly from the increased use of guided and unguided aerial bombs.
I chose two days from this week to give you real-time examples.
April 9
russians attacked a two-storey building in the town of Kostiantynivka (Donetsk Oblast). A bomb caused partial destruction of the house. Three people were killed, among them a mother and her 12-year-old son.
April 10
Four civilians, including a 10-year-old girl, have been killed in a russian missile attack on the Odesa district of Odesa Oblast. Later, it was informed that the death toll had risen to five.
As a result of the russian attack on Lyptsi and Mala Danylivka villages in Kharkiv Oblast, a 14-year-old girl was killed.
RUSSIA ATTACKS OUR CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE
Again, the mentioned report from the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine specifies that in March 2024, large-scale coordinated attacks on critical infrastructure destroyed or damaged at least 20 energy facilities throughout the country, temporarily disrupting access to electricity for millions of people in large cities and rural areas. Water supply was also disrupted in some areas.
This week, we suffered a massive russian attack also. At night, April 11, russian forces launched 82 missiles and drones, targeting critical infrastructure in multiple regions. The Air Force shot down 57 air targets. However, the Trypillia Thermal Power Plant in Ukrainka, Kyiv Oblast, was completely destroyed by the attack.
The world helps. Okay, not that much we need, but we should be grateful. And I am grateful.
This week, we had many news like that:
International donors have given 724 generators of various capacities and other types of power generation-related equipment to Kharkiv Oblast.
The German government is to supply Ukraine with 400 generators amid russian strikes on power stations.
The European Union has sent emergency aid to Ukraine in the form of 167 generators.
Also, I want to mention the Netherlands. It allocated another EUR 1 billion for military aid for Ukraine and EUR 400 million more for the rebuilding.
Perhaps it is time to tell you about Paraska Plytka-Horytsvit. I decided to include her pictures because she perfectly captured ordinary people's lives in her region and time and had a unique style.
She was born in 1927 in the part of Ukraine that was under Poland at the time. She studied only four years at school; the rest of her knowledge was taught to her at home by her father, blacksmith Stefan Plytka, who knew several languages. By the way, Horysvit is a pseudonym (it means a flower - adonis).
In 1943, the girl went to Germany to go to university. Instead of studying, she was forced to serve in a German family, where she suffered humiliation. When she returned, she began carrying food and warm clothes to the forest for the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. She became a liaison officer under the pseudonym 'Lastivka' (Swallow in English). However, the girl was soon exposed. In 1945, she was sentenced to exile.
Paraska returned to her native mountains only after nine years in camps.
After she was released from prison, she chose to live a solitary life and devoted the rest of her days to writing, drawing, and photography. Her work had a profound impact on the world around her.
As a result of her imprisonment, the locals were afraid of her. However, Paraska began taking photographs of the people in her village and giving them their portraits. This helped her earn the respect of the villagers.
She never exhibited her photos, keeping them under her bed. In 2015, three people from Kyiv visited her museum in Krivorivnya, located in her house (Paraska was also an artist and writer, but only the villagers knew she was a photographer). One of the three visitors spotted a tiny box on the window sill. And he asked,
Here are the photographs that were printed. So there must be negatives somewhere?
The museum keeper looked and found some in a bag with the inscription 'bad photos'. So the visitors took a look. At first glance, it seemed that something was interesting there. They asked to look for more. After that, she found a lot more. They were really under the bed.
Paraska Plytka-Horytsvit's literary heritage includes 46 books, 500 pages each, mostly handwritten, and dozens of smaller ones. Thirty of them are spiritual works, and sixteen are philosophical reflections. There is also poetry and works on Hutsul folklore.
I do like her personality. To see more of her photos, please visit the Facebook page.
I almost finished the letter. At the moment, I am in the cafe, having a cup of warcoffee and enjoying the calm Sunday. People are passing by; children are laughing, and some may think that it is a perfectly normal life. But it is not. We became masters of pretending.
Okay, it's time for me to go. Thank you for reading my letter, leaving a comment, and possibly even buying me a warcoffee. Your support is what helps me continue writing these letters and my war diary, as well as sharing my love for Ukraine with the world.
See you soon,
Yaroslava