Slava Ukraini


Russia has pulled out of Kyiv and many other towns and cities. In their wake, unimaginable atrocities have been exposed to the world. Twitter feeds are awash with reels of ravaged women, tortured men, burnt and executed victims, lying in streets, yards, and buried in mass graves. A word of warning, once seen, these images cannot be unseen. [If you are a survivor of prior trauma, please take care in viewing the pictures online and in the links below as they certainly will be triggering.] That said, we must see these horrors to understand what is truly happening and consider them in our future political decisions. WWIII looms large.

After the Nazi camps and their ethnic cleansing, the world said, “Never again,” yet 75 years later, we see the same barbarism. Russia has assaulted the people of Ukraine repeatedly: Baturyn 1708, Slovo House 1932, Holodomor 1933, and Lviv 1941, today Bucha.

I had the honor to participate in an international Zoom gathering of eighty poets, sponsored by Larry Robin of Moonstone Arts Center in Philadelphia, on the theme “Support Ukraine.” The readings were sobering. My poem “Atrocities” will be published along with over one hundred others in the Support Ukraine Anthology. It will be available for purchase on May 1, 2022. Proceeds will go to assist Ukrainians in need. 

While the Russians have retreated in the northeast of Ukraine, signs indicate that they will redouble their efforts in the Donbas region [Donetsk/Luhansk] with an offensive to attempt a total encirclement of Ukrainian troops fighting in that area. The war is not over, and the world is not yet safe from the ravages of the invaders. And Eastern Europe may even be in the Russian sights. We have not seen the last of Putin’s war crimes.

In the meantime, Slava Ukraini and all of her heroic citizens.

You can follow the Author on her website and on Twitter.



 

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