WAR/ВІЙНА— PART 2

The second half of my virtual journal about the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine

All of these stories were published on Medium before and then put together into this compilation.

September 11, 2022

After a summer of frustrating news, for the last three days, my boyfriend(Serhii) and I have been feeling hysterically happy. The Ukrainian army has started its counteroffensive movement in Kharkiv Oblast and the Donbas, the Northeastern regions of Ukraine. The results have been mind-blowing so far. Ukraine has managed to de-occupy a huge chunk of its Eastern territory in a few days. Before that, it took Russia several months to take over those parts of Ukrainian land.

As always, it’s difficult for us — lay people — to know what has triggered this sudden change of pace. In summer — August in particular — the Ukrainian army had been actively using drones and HIMARS rockets to blow up Russian military bases and warehouses in the occupied territories as well as Crimea. It was a slow but steady process of partial occupant’s demilitarization — today, it has resulted in a successful counteroffensive attack and the Russian army’s fleeing to other positions deeper in the Donbas region.