Hi!
Yesterday, while I was at an exhibition in Kyiv, rescuers in Odesa were looking for people under the rubble. The exhibition was dedicated to Ukrainian children. Meanwhile, the bodies of a 3-year-old boy, a woman and her 4-month-old baby were found under the rubble.
I was looking for a chair to sit down. It was one. Good. So I sat there, looking at the people with their children, listening to the sound of children's smiles, and cried.
Anton Logov. I saw this drawing on his Instagram page right after the attack yesterday.
In this letter, I will show you the paintings from the exhibition and the works of the artists I discovered there. So, Odesa and children. Let this Sunday letter be titled like that.
I will shortly summarize the tragedy caused by russian drones in Odesa. You probably read and listened to a lot about it in the media.
So, a part of a multi-storey building collapsed in the city of Odesa on the night of March 1-2 due to a russian Shahed drone attack, killing ten people (later, I will find out that eleven).
Among the ten killed were four-month-old, eight-month-old and three-year-old children. Eight people were injured, including a three-year-old girl.
Search and rescue operations continue.
Due to the attack, Odesa Governor Oleh Kiper announced a day of mourning on March 3 (today).
We need a picture.
Alina Zamanova, Pressure of memories, 2023. Her Instagram
I want to share a story before we jump to other news. At the exhibition, there were short stories the children told. One of these stories said:
One summer night, we were sitting in a bomb shelter during an air raid alert. Missiles were flying over our house. We were sad; no one could sleep because it was very crowded. So, we found a YouTube stream of a stork from the Poltava region. Then I thought: I would like to be a stork, eat frogs and not hide from missiles...
Platon, 15-year-old, a village of Novi Petrivtsi, Kyiv Oblast.
Kateryna Felistovych, Memory, 2024
Okay, what's else here? Ukraine's Air Force shot down 13 russian aircraft in February: 10 Su-34 fighter-bombers, two Su-35 fighters and one A-50 Airborne Early Warning and Control System.
A good article in Kyiv Independent is trying to answer the question: How?
Also, for two days in March, two Su-34 aircraft were downed.
Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation, informed that this year, seven vocational colleges in Ukraine will introduce a new educational programme: Civil Drone Operator.
Currently, learning to operate a drone is possible through an additional course. However, the Ministry of Education plans to develop an educational standard and implement a corresponding licensing system in vocational schools.
Yuliia Tveritina, her Instagram
Yuliia had her illustrated war diary and even published a book 'Another day of the War'. The book is in Ukrainian and English, with amazing illustrations. Unfortunately, I couldn't find the book in online bookstores abroad. So, I will purchase it and show it on social media.
A few words about the drawing above. I found this description on Yuliia's Instagram (I kept the original version of the text):
April 5 (?) [2022]. My friend Maria from Kyiv, at the beginning of the war, hiding in her country house in the small Demidov village. After more than a month staying in basement, her baby daughter fell ill and needed good medical care. Maria walked almost 40 km on one side of the road, because the way hadn’t been cleared of mines and traps yet and it was impossible to drive a car. when she approached the outskirts of Kyiv it suddenly seemed to her that the city was on fire, although it was only a reflection of the setting sun in the surviving windows.
OMG, I am jumping from one topic to another. My thoughts are a bit chaotic right now. Maybe these jumps can show you my true feelings. Killed children, shattered memories of the children who saw the war, reflections of the adults about the hell we all live in here... sometimes I want to hide from it and unsee. But I cannot. So I make another cup of strong warcoffee, take a deep breath and write.
Again, Yuliia Tveritina
This week, I read the story I want to share with you. It will enrich our cultural part. There is a Ukrainian artist, Alevtina Kakhidze: her website and Instagram.
After the war started in 2014, her mother found herself in the russian-occupied part of Donbas. When she visited her daughter in Kyiv (it was still possible to come back then, but people stayed in the occupied territories for various reasons, one of them was that they did not want to leave their homes), she bought flower and vegetable seeds, which had disappeared from sale in the self-proclaimed LDPR. Alevtina's mother died at a checkpoint in an area not controlled by Ukraine.
In memory of her, the artist began bringing a stand with seeds to the line of contact between Ukraine and the occupied territories, and people could take the seeds in exchange for their stories and drawings. On February 24, 2022, everything changed, as the full-scale war started, and Alevtina changed the project to 'Seeds of Europe'. In the Netherlands, her stall collected seeds to bring back to Ukraine, offering stories, drawings, and Ukrainian souvenirs in return.
Probably, I should end the letter. Covered by the thick blanket of sorrow, I ask you again not to forget about Ukraine. You can share this letter with anyone you want and wherever you want.
Before I let you go to live your life, I want to mention the words I wrote yesterday in my diary:
Honestly, I don't know how to put this pain into words. They all seem trivial and empty. Someone's loved ones died. Someone now has no mother or father, or daughter or son.
I hope to write to you next week.
With a gentle bow from me and my words,
Lady with a pen
P.S. When we left, my friends stayed to guard our house. A knitted bear, a deer sweater... They were given to me when my mother died. They are not toys; they are my friends. We celebrate their birthdays, eat a cake made of pens, and I put them to bed every night.
I missed my friends very much. And one day we met! They had travelled across four countries to come to me. Now, whenever I go somewhere, I always take my friends with me.
Andriy, 7-years-old, Kherson
____________________
I have just read that the body of a 10-year-old boy was found under the rubble in Odesa. The rescuers are still looking for his 8-year-old sister.