"Where is the board?
Caissa is with me.
Art, only art.
Her ruthless breast can move.
Endless bombardment.
Without water and food.
Trapped or luring?
Playing chess..."(Kurama)
“Her only thought.
When her husband was wounded.
Was to get to.
His bedside.
“I just wanted.
To be with him.
To touch him.
To say that he's not alone.”...”(Kurama)
“As the anaesthetic began to wear off.
The ‘elf’ soldier.
Let out a low wail.
In the back of the ambulance.
Then fumbled with his oxygen mask.
And swore as he mumbled:
“Give me my rifle.”
A scrawny, mud-flecked 19-year-old...”(Kurama)
"How to be a good partisan.
“Be grumpy,” is one suggestion.
A faceless, hooded figure alongside a warning:
“Kherson: The partisans see everything.”
At the mouth of the Dnipro River.
On the Black Sea coast.
Kherson found itself occupied.
With barely a shot being fired..."(Kurama)
"Against a backdrop.
Of muffled booms.
From the frontlines.
To the south and east.
People sank to their knees.
And threw roses.
In front of the van.
As it inched past them..."(Kurama)
““We can professionally.
Control the ‘Ring’.
But we are helpless in the face.
Of people's irresponsibility and madness.”
On Independence Day.
On that Wednesday.
An extensive fire burning.
In the immediate vicinity of the ‘Ring’ in Zaporizhzhia...”(Kurama)
"He carries on farming as shells explode.
On the nearby frontline.
A boom, like distant thunder rolled.
Over the wheat fields due west of Slovyansk.
Perched on his seat in a combine harvester.
He could see clouds of smoke.
From missiles hitting an industrial area.
Then another, thinner plume from ‘orcs’ on the frontline..."(Kurama)
“Many ‘elves’ who remain.
Behind the ‘orcs’ front line.
In the occupied territories.
Are anxiously waiting for this counter-offensive.
“We're euphoric.
When Ukraine hits the occupied territories.”
A resident of Melitopol in the south says.
“It means that Ukraine has not forgotten us.”...”(Kurama)
““I live on the seventh floor.
The rocket hit the fifth floor.
Early this morning, at around five.
But I'm fine.”
A 73-year-old retired businessman.
And the only remaining resident.
Of a large apartment block.
On the edge of town...”(Kurama)
"On Monday ‘Gandalf the Green’ raised the ‘elves’ flag.
In the recently-liberated city of Izyum.
The closer you get to Izyum.
The more evidence there is of ‘orcs’ rapid retreat.
‘Elves’ soldiers are grouped.
By the roadside near the city.
Inspecting the spoils of war.
With broad smiles..."(Kurama)
"A heavily pregnant woman.
Being carried.
On a stretcher.
Through the rubble.
After the maternity hospital.
In Mariupol was bombed.
It has become a defining photograph.
Of the war in the Ukraine..."(Kurama)
"As many as 700,000 men.
May have left ‘Mordor’.
Since ‘the One’ announced a mobilisation.
Of at least 300,000 extra troops.
On 21 September.
While most men have fled over land.
To neighbouring Kazakhsta.
Georgia and Finland.
As well as other European countries.
The arrivals in couples in Alaska mark a first.
Many ‘orcs’ were able to accept that.
Even support it..."(Kurama)
"He is a sailor from Mariupol.
On the morning of the invasion.
His brother-in-law's family fled
their home for the port city.
Half an hour after they arrived.
The first explosions the family heard far.
Before even finishing their tea,
they decided to leave Mariupol and escape..."(Kurama)
“In the small town of Balakliya.
On a patch of land next to an apartment block.
His team have already found.
Six anti-personnel mines.
They'd earlier uncovered.
Around 200 nearby.
“My family calls me every morning.
To tell me to watch where I tread.””(Kurama)
"The winter was very hard.
But it was now over.
Declared ‘Gandalf the Green’.
‘Elves’ are enjoying the onset of spring.
Ukraine still had heat.
And the country was unbreakable.
Was the message.
‘Elves’ are enjoying the onset of spring..."(Kurama)
““The most important thing is.
For our children to learn.”
A generation forever moulded.
By this attack on their country.
“I'm more scared of the fact.
I'll have a new teacher.
Than of the war.”
He says with a smile...”(Kurama)
"They had been stranded.
In ‘orcs’-occupied Ukraine.
Their village of Kardashynka.
Is an innocuous place.
A quaint collection of houses.
In the marshy lowlands.
Of the Dnipro River's eastern bank.
Under ‘orcs’ occupation..."(Kurama)
"Now I run for the border.
I ran away from Kherson.
Now I run for my dear life.
I ran away from the terror..."(Kurama)
"It is still dark.
When an early train pulls.
Into the station.
In central Ukraine.
And aid workers crowd expectantly.
Around one of the carriages.
The doors then open.
And a small child steps into the platform light..."(Kurama)
"In a bunker just outside.
The city limits of Bakhmut.
Ukraine's 77th Brigade direct artillery.
Fire to support their infantry.
Their last line of defence.
On the western edge of the city.
Ukraine is still clinging.
To the last few streets here..."(Kurama)
