These days, I am working with Kharkiv volunteering organization that helps to evacuate people/deliver humanitarian help throughout the region.

On Sunday, we were in Izyum. Here is one of the very few photos I took there (didn’t want to photograph more and didn’t have time to)

It looks inadvertently artistic, but that’s not the intent. The building in the foreground is not a nice ancient ruin, it was hit in the spring. From another point, one can see inside its kitchen, with a kettle and cups still on the table. Two apartment buildings in the background are actually two remaining parts of one apartment building, with its middle bombed to the ground. Oh, and you shouldn’t be able to see it at all because to the right in the foreground, there should be another house.

It continues like that throughout the center/upper part of the (previously) old charming town. On the main street, there is no building without at least windows smashed or holes in the roof.

I know you saw it all already, at least in the photos, and heard all the stories. I did too. It was just the moment of clarity: small town, horrible ruins as long as an eye could see. The obviousness of evil.

Tell me about Ukrainian warmongering, about middle grounds, referendums, about “Putin is bad, but weapons and wars are worse.”

Izyum is not dead. It still doesn’t have electricity or running water, but it all will be restored. Already on Sunday, we saw well-dressed families with cheerful kids on a weekend walk. Ukraine will survive and restore itself. But it will neither forgive nor forget.

Lost lives, lost memories, lost homes, lost peaceful life, lost plans, lost pets, lost months, lost trust in the world in our kids.

Russians are accountable for the crimes of their state. Westerners are accountable for meddling, and “we’ll give you these 3 tanks, be grateful,” and “let’s not escalate,” and being cautious about “warmongering” and generally indifferent. We’ll not forget.

Love, peace, have an Izyum cat (her face is lying, she was well-fed and played with)