Darkest Day: one year on

 

Maidan demonstration, Kyiv 2014

 

Exactly one year ago today Russian forces invaded Ukraine. Of course I sprang into 'action', and wrote a blog post, entitled  The Darkest Day. There didn't seem much else to be done, and to be honest, at the time the outcome seemed inevitable, that outcome being the rapid conquest and subjugation of Ukraine, and its elimination as an independent nation. Quite surprisingly, that blog post became my 'most read' ever ( with the exception of  one other post that had been previously  'nobbled' by a bot attack ).  I had expressed myself pretty strongly, and I wondered if I would attract hostile reactions, even attacks, on the blog - I'm glad to say that didn't happen, and there were many supportive comments.   I've just been re-reading the post, and I stand by everything I said. 

Pro-democracy protestor Yevhen Shulga, 2014

 

Of course there was a very unexpected outcome: the Russian invasion failed. Ukraine's defence forces fought bravely and successfully, and  gave Putin a massive shock; Western nations have rallied in Ukraine's support and provided arms and equipment to Ukraine.   Despite many thousands of casualties both military and civilian, despite thousands of war crimes inflicted by the Russia's deliberate targeting of the civilians they claim to be 'liberating',  Ukraine fights on, has had victories, and has regained territory. The cost has been terrible, but I entirely understand Ukraine's willingness to pay that cost and keep fighting, and  I think we in the West need to support our governments in supporting Ukraine. Freedom is at stake; Putin now says he is fighting a war against the West, so perhaps we have little choice.

Battle damage to Ukrainian homes, 2022

 

As before, I am not going to get into nerdy discussions of the fighting and whether they should have done X, Y or Z - there are too many armchair generals already, I'm sure. But there is  of course much  worthwhile analysis available - I would highlight the Royal United Services Institute, which for example has a summary today entitled The War In Ukraine One Year On . I've also been recently recommended a 'Substack' blog ,  Comment is Freed, a joint effort by  political commentatior Sam Freedman  and his father, the military historian  Lawrence Freedman, whose recent piece The Storm Before The Calm  makes interesting reading.   Regarding the effect on those of us not directly involved in the fighting, political journalist Andrew Marr recently wrote a chilling ( but realistic, I'm afraid ) piece which should give us all plenty to consider :  The war in Ukraine will go on for years – and so will its consequences for Britain.  Also Steve Rosenberg, the BBC's man in Moscow has been consistently interesting ( and sobering for those who might think the Russian population will not support Putin ), his latest piece about How Putin's fate is tied to Russia's war raises some scary possibilities  ( civil war in a nuclear-armed power? ). 

burial of victims of Russian occupation, Bucha 2022

Yesterday I paid a visit to London's Imperial War Museum, which had advertised an exhibition of pictures by photo-journalist Anastasia Taylor-Lind. covering the period since the 2014 Ukraine revolution and Russian takeover of  Crimea,  to the current war. I used my phone to capture some of those pictures, which I include in this blog post.  They are very impressive, but I have to say the exhibition was underwhelming - there was just one small room, and perhaps no more than 20 pictures. I thought the subject deserved a much bigger effort than that - and I note that the main exhibition space in the museum is currently filled by an exhibit about computer games.  I'm not sure if this is a deliberate reflection of the priorities of the IWM management.  However, I was glad to see the exhibition and spend a little time thinking about the situation. I guess this post is also part of that train of thought. 

 

Yevhen Shulga, now Ukrainian soldier, 2022

I'll get back to hobby stuff next time; meanwhile I think it's worth a pause to reflect. Keep well, everyone. 

Fnurban #18 : Knit Your Own Remembrance

Today has of course been Remembrance Sunday : my very minor contribution to that was to ensure that the village church clock was keeping good time and chimed for 11:00 am at spot-on 11:00am.   If we have the telly on for the Cenotaph, and our front door open to hear the church, we can compare our 'bongs' with Big Ben - and we were within a few seconds,  not so bad. Apart from the novelty of King Charles and the absence of his late mother, and the chance for sarcasm at the expense of the increasing gaggle of former Prime Ministers ( collective noun - a 'Crisis'  of Prime Ministers ? ),  of course the most important part is to see the march past by the many and various veterans, who have all our respect. 

Then a stroll to the village shop and Post Office, where we saw our local essay at a recent trend - the pillar box 'topper' -  on a Remembrance theme. 

    

I think it's rather splendid, and all services are represented :

Though considering it was made by ladies of the 'Craft and Chat Group', perhaps they should have taken the opportunity to make  one of the figures a  'Wren' or a 'WAAF' ?  ( by the way, I'd guess they are about '200mm' scale ). 

Anyway, a rather sweet  gesture which cheered us up, and also made it into the local newspaper. Very sadly, there was a  murder of a mother and child in the village a couple of months ago, which has dominated local media   - as a friend of ours  ( who is one of the creators )  said, it was nice to get our village a positive mention in local news for a change. 

I'll be back soon with the set-up of a trial game with Twilight of the Divine Right Pike and Shot period rules, to compare with In Deo Veritas as featured in recent posts. Meanwhile, keep well everyone, and of course, Lest We Forget..