“Mom, I don’t want to die… There’s still so much I haven’t tried in life,” 8-year-old Katya Shyshkina told her mother.
Is It Safe?
“No, sweetheart. They will never bomb here,” her mom reassured her.
That was back in 2014, after the family fled Donetsk for what they hoped would be a safer life near Kyiv.
But on February 24, 2022, the war found them again — this time in Hostomel.
Her mother remembers how on March 2nd, Katya quietly said:
‘Tomorrow it will all end… The war, everything.’ She didn’t think much of it then.
On March 3rd the family tried to escape Hostomel under heavy fire. Russians opened fire on their civilian car from all sides — despite the white sheet on the roof and their raised hands begging them not to shoot.
The car was riddled with bullets, but they managed to break through. Her husband and daughter were wounded.
Human Cost
‘Mom, there’s blood running down my back…’ Katya whispered. The bullet had torn through her kidney, lung, and abdominal cavity.
They reached a hospital, but doctors couldn’t save the 15-year-old girl.
She was buried in the yard of a local elderly man, wrapped in a blanket.
Katya’s mother, Yulia, still keeps her daughter’s hat, sweater, and a few pieces of clothing. She can’t bring herself to wash them — ‘so I don’t wash away my daughter’s spirit.’
Their story was told by UAVoyager on Twitter.
We share stories like this not to traumatize our readers but as an example of the severe human cost and war crimes committed by Russia.
Daryna Shevchenko
Darnya is the CEO of the Kyiv Independent.
She sent out a note on Tuesday November 25th beginning, “I’m writing to you from the dark kitchen of my apartment in Kyiv.”
I’m working from home today, and there’s a power outage in my district. The only lights around me are my laptop screen and a small string of Christmas lights I keep as a symbol of hope.
Electricity is scarce in Ukraine these days. Hope feels scarce, too.
This winter will be tough. Ukraine is entering one of its most difficult moments yet. Russia’s attacks are intensifying across the country. The front is under enormous pressure. Our government has walked itself straight into a major corruption scandal. And now, new “peace plans” sideline Ukrainians’ voices and reward Russia’s aggression, instead of delivering a just peace.
As a Ukrainian, I’m carrying a lot of conflicting feelings. I long for light and warmth. I’m sickened by the audacity of officials who steal from their own people in times like these. I’m exhausted by watching people far away debate “peace” in ways that would mean surrendering what Ukraine has fought so hard to defend.
Peace?
What we hear often is that most Canadians are “tired of hearing about the war” or “not my country, not my war.” We understand. At the same time, the outcome of this “special military operation” is affecting the world and will lead to a dangerous outcome if the aggressor is left unchecked.
We don’t understand all the multi-layered theories about whether Ukraine should hand over the Donbas to Russia, whether it should keep fighting, or whether it would be better to accept Putin’s terms now or later.
What makes Canadians think Ukraine actually has a real choice?
What makes anyone think this latest fuss over a 28-point peace plan is a path to real peace and an end to the war, rather than a political way to achieve through the US what the aggressor hasn’t been able to accomplish against Ukraine on the battlefield for four years?
I think about Yulia and Katya. They wouldn’t want a future of subservience for their country.
The quickest way for the war to end and Ukraine to have some measure of peace is for Russia to get out of Ukraine.
Ukraine is not asking for pity.
Ukraine is asking for tomorrow.
That’s not original to me but I wish it was.
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