A few thoughts for my own and my friends' personal record. About the war. For it not to fade from our memories. Yesterday early in the morning my mother called me saying: "Get up, Russians started war, they've been hitting our cities with artillery." Honestly, at first I was incredulous. I even wanted to go to work. Since then, I've been stuck on the Internet - as probably almost everyone has-- tracking every single piece of news. I lingered there until 3 a.m. I was in a peculiar state of mind. On the one hand, my soul was tormented with emotions, on the other hand, I had been comforted with some rationality and confidence in our victory. I went out only once to buy some sausages at the local store. Bread and cereal shelves were almost emptied at the store. But it is only them that lacks. I donated money for our army. You know, what a weird feeling to scroll the Fb news feed and see news about war mixed with those about ordinary life posted a few days earlier. Someone proudly posted old pics and old embroidery, someone -- new embroidery, someone showed the pics of snowdrops (I noticed a few appearing in my own yard as well), while others were posting patriotic pics and texts. And then the war broke out and everything mixed up. What an emotional dissonance. It's still a mess. I was extremely comforted to see the bravery of our army and the support of our people. The worn-out pants of the captured occupants left me with strange feelings. Especially considering the brand-new uniforms of our soldiers in the background. I was extremely worried about my friends, in particular the ones living in close proximity to the front line. Keep my fingers crossed for you! The current war is so strange. It's strange to see the civilians in the heat of military activities. Ukrainians are such curiousers, they would just gape their mouths at. Also, it's strange to see so much enemy machinery being destroyed and abandoned. My inner hard-working farmer is weeping. I feel somewhat sorry for the captured enemy. They are the sheep against the maddened tigers. But that was their choice. I don't think they're dumb enough not to comprehend why they were sent here. And if they consented to it, they are sheep in the slaughterhouse. Sunflower seeds to grow from their corpses -- is what they need in their pockets! Guess, it'll be a modern curse for the enemies for a long time to come. And the fact that they must be sunflower seeds is quite symbolic. For our soldiers will well repay the enemy for everything and for the Ilovaisk tragedy as well. Today, those first jitters of war have worn off a little. I went downtown to change my card in a bank. There were huge queues to the ATM in one bank, another bank had already closed. There are loads of cars on the road headed for the mountains. Some vehicles are brand-new, some of them -- worn-down. There are lots of newcomers to the city. Products are in abundance in stores, except bread, cereals, and matches. I did not ask about salt -- it's not a joke anymore. Some of our men were clumping together chatting about the war. I know that many of them joined the territorial defense units. Another cool dude set up something like first aid training courses for emergency cases. Scores of people attended it -- aged from almost children to a bit older ones. I learned the enemy attempted to launch rockets on Franyk (humorous shortened form of Ivano-Frankivsk). I was going back home with acquaintances at dusk. There mustn't be any streetlights. And so the first two days of the war which broke out eight years ago wore on.
February 25, 11:37 p.m.
Translated into English by Ukrainianvancouver team – Mar 04, 2022
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