All posts tagged: WarWeary

War-Weary Kyiv Residents Defiant Over Russian Threat of New Strikes

War-Weary Kyiv Residents Defiant Over Russian Threat of New Strikes

Published by Sam Flores

KYIV, May 26 (Reuters) – Kyiv residents and foreign embassies are shrugging ⁠off ⁠Moscow’s threat of a wave of heavy ⁠strikes on the Ukrainian capital as nothing new after years of war, displaying a defiant ​confidence in carrying on with their lives.  Russia, which has relentlessly attacked Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv, since launching its full-scale invasion in 2022, said on ‌Monday it intended to launch “systematic strikes” on ‌targets in Kyiv and urged foreigners and diplomats to leave.  But despite one of the war’s heaviest bombardments of the capital two days ago, ⁠residents interviewed by ⁠Reuters voiced their determination. “I think that those threats are manipulation more aimed at sowing ​panic among the public,” Oleksandr Korzh, a former serviceman, 43, said. “I will stay in Ukraine, and I will stay in Kyiv.”  Some of the diplomatic missions in the city, which Russia aggressively urged to leave, displayed no such plans. The EU’s ambassador to Ukraine, Katarina Mathernova, dismissed Russian threats as “a masterpiece ​of hypocrisy”. The Netherlands, Germany and Norway were among the countries that …

In War-Weary Kyiv, Wounded Ukrainian Veterans Turn Epic Poetry Into Living Testimony

In War-Weary Kyiv, Wounded Ukrainian Veterans Turn Epic Poetry Into Living Testimony

Published by Sam Flores

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Sitting in a circle the day before opening night, Ukrainian war veterans and drama students took turns reading their lines from a script that traveled centuries to reach them. At the center was Olha Semioshkina, directing the group through her adaptation of “Eneida” by Ivan Kotliarevskyi — an 18th-century Ukrainian reimagining of Virgil’s “Aeneid.” This production, though, had a modern-day message about resilience in the face of the war that’s nearing its fourth year since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The actors — men and women in their 20s to 60s — included Ukrainian military veterans who had returned from the front with amputations, severe burns and sight loss. Others had endured war on the homefront. Many had never set foot on a stage before this play. The production was created by Theater of Veterans, an organization founded by members of Ukraine’s Territorial Defense Forces that provides theatrical training and stage opportunities for former service members as part of their reintegration and recovery. It took more than a year to prepare …