Hi!
I don't know where to begin. This week was full of news in Ukraine and my life. I got my first glasses for reading, and it was a signal to me that "the clock is ticking". My son had COVID (today, he got his second test, and at last, he recovered and tested negative). Buy Me a Coffee stopped registering new accounts from Ukraine and is discontinuing payments via Payoneer and starts working only with Stripe; we don't have Stripe in Ukraine. This last news meant that I am losing this blog as my source (the only source these days) of income.
They answered my angry tweet: "We are extending our support for Payoneer payouts to a couple more months to make the transition smoother. You'll receive an email on this shortly."
I had no email yet. However, I registered a new page on Patreon (a blog platform for creators) and await its approval. I hope it will be; I will update you on this. Meanwhile, I am grateful for the warcoffees I get these days. It will help me in this transition period.
I will continue sending my Sunday Letters via this platform, but once I get my Patreon page approved, I will ask you to sign in there (for free, as Sunday Letters will be free as usual) or as a member to support my work and get more. My blog will gradually move there. If you are a member (support me monthly on Buy Me a Coffee), you can terminate your membership now, or I will do it when my Patreon page starts working.
What if they won't approve my page on Patreon? They are also unhappy to see Ukrainians and block many creators from here. I will figure something out.
We need a picture. Today, you will see the ones from the exhibition by Ivan Marchuk, which I visited yesterday.
Madonna, From the cycle "The Voice of My Soul", 1992. Acrylic on canvas. From the private collection
As for the news from Ukraine, my dear girl managed to surprise the world and us this week.
On the morning of August 6, russian authorities claimed that the Ukrainians launched a large-scale drone and missile attack on russia’s Kursk Oblast. The russian National Antiterrorism Committee announced a counterterrorism operation in Belgorod, Bryansk, and Kursk Oblasts on August 9 in response to the Ukrainian incursion into Kursk Oblast.
The cross-border action was described as the biggest attack on russian soil since russian president vladimir putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Since the start of the incursion, Ukrainian troops have seized control of about 600 square kilometres of territory and more than two dozen settlements, according to local officials, pro-war bloggers, and open-source intelligence reports.
Ukrainian authorities are silent about plans and the situation in the Kursk Oblast. Only yesterday (on Saturday), our President Volodymyr Zelenskyy acknowledged for the first time that Ukrainian forces were fighting in the surprise offensive in russia's Kursk, as attacks on the border region continued with authorities rushing to evacuate people.
He added, "Ukraine is proving that it can restore justice and ensure the necessary pressure on the aggressor."
A picture? 
What is the world's reaction to the situation in Kursk Oblast?
The Pentagon has expressed no concern regarding the advance of Ukrainian forces in russia's Kursk Oblast, the Pentagon's press service reports.
Peter Stano, the European Commission's spokesman on foreign policy issues, has stated in response to the events in russia's Kursk Oblast that Ukraine has the right to self-defence and can strike russian territory.
Let's keep in mind that russia terrorizes Ukraine every day, killing people and damaging houses, infrastructure and cultural heritage. This week, on August 9, russia struck a supermarket in the town of Kostiantynivka in Donetsk Oblast, killing at least 14 people and injuring at least 43 others. russian forces attacked Kyiv Oblast overnight on August 11, killing two people and injuring three others. The bodies of a 35-year-old man and his 4-year-old son were found under the rubble during search and rescue operations.
Of course, there were more attacks and casualties. Unfortunately. 
Melody in Colour, From the cycle "Still Life", 1996. Acrylic on canvas. From the private collection
I will finish with the news section. Today, I want to mention the group that reminds us again how important it is to fight for our freedom.
The Ukrainian Helsinki Group was established on November 9, 1976. Subsequently, historians believe its existence and activities became the trigger that "undermined" the USSR from within. Let me give some background on its creation.
In 1973, the National Council for Security and Cooperation in Europe was launched in Helsinki, Finland, with 35 countries participating. It lasted until August 1975, when the Helsinki Accords were unanimously approved and signed, according to which all participating states recognized each other's sovereignty, including the right of each state to legal equality and territorial integrity.
The Accords were signed by all European countries (except Albania, which became a signatory in September 1991) and by the United States and Canada. The Helsinki Accords primarily aimed to reduce tension between the Soviet and Western blocs by securing their common acceptance of the post-World War II status quo in Europe.
The Helsinki Accords also recognized human rights and fundamental freedoms, including freedoms of thought, conscience, religion, and equal rights to self-determination of peoples.
Mykola Rydenko, Head of Ukrainian Helsinki Group
Ukrainian Helsinki Group was created shortly. I found this quote of Lyudmila Alekseeva, head of the moscow Helsinki Group. So, she said:
When they said they wanted to create a Helsinki Group in Ukraine, I was scared. In the entire Soviet Union, Ukraine was the most severely punished country. We asked Western journalists to write as often as possible about the Ukrainian Group, about each of its members. Because they are kamikaze.
The Ukrainian Helsinki Group (UHG) consisted of 40 people, 24 of whom were convicted. Altogether, they served more than 550 years in prisons, camps, closed psychiatric hospitals, and exile.
Almost all members of the UHG were arrested on fabricated criminal charges and given the maximum sentences.
Four members of the group did not return alive from the special regime camp: Oleksa Tykhyi, Yuriy Lytvyn, Valeriy Marchenko and Vasyl Stus. Mykhailo Melnyk committed suicide on the eve of his imminent arrest on March 9, 1979.
However, by the end of 1980, the Ukrainian Helsinki Group had published 30 memoranda, declarations, manifestos, appeals, and newsletters. These raised the issues of Ukrainians' political, economic, and spiritual separateness and the protection of human rights.
Some members of the Ukrainian Helsinki Group. I want you to see these brave faces.
That's all for this Sunday. You will receive your letter next Sunday as usual. I will be updating you on the situation with BMC and Patreon. I don't want to lose our connection and the tradition of Sunday Letters.
I am happy to have you. May your new week be full of good news.
Sincerely,
Yaroslava
Dilemma, From the cycle "The Voice of My Soul", 1993. Acrylic on canvas. From the private collection
Melaniia's portrait, 1983. Tempera on capboard. From the private collection