One thing is certain: the effects of Russia’s invasion in Ukraine will leave a generation of people in tatters, trying to make sense of what is left until the day they die. 

This feeling was felt by The Malta Independent’s journalists especially during and after their second tour in the East of Ukraine. What you will read below are the heart wrenching stories of these people and the token of gratitude they gave the journalists for being with them and sharing their stories. 

A territorial defence soldier in Kharkiv 

While at the Military base, arrangements were constantly made between the Maltese journalists and the commander of the unit they were with. One of these arrangements was to visit a military checkpoint close to the front line. 

The evening before this visit was going to occur, after a day of training everyone including the journalists sat in the small yard of this military base waiting for the cover of darkness and head inside. 

The evenings were pretty much characterised of such gatherings with people smoking, others drinking while some tried to cook something with the little they had. 

Many a time food was scarce in places like this and soldiers had to result in eating very little if they ate at all. Unfortunately a strict diet on cigarettes, lack of sleep and stress is what keeps soldiers going.

The constant shelling in the vicinities gets numbed out after some time, it feels like your seated in a village square during the feast ‘march’ where no one notices the fireworks exploding in the background. 

After some time, Igor the unit commander looked sick to the stomach with his eyebrows peeping down to see what was on his mobile. A sense of uneasiness immediately overcame the journalists as they were trying to get further closer to the front line through contacts. 

As Igor rose from his seated position with a cigarette loosely gripped by his lips, he took a deep breath with his eyes wide open looking in our direction. Everything was muffled out from that point, it is as though even some children playing in the field next to the base had felt the bad news. 

As he walked closer to the journalists, with each ponderous step different scenarios ran through their minds thinking of the worst case scenario. In a thick Ukrainian accent and broken English, the words “the base we were going in the morning has just been targeted” were understood by the journalists. 

Another checkpoint targeted by Russian artillery, a checkpoint full of Ukrainian volunteer soldiers, Ukrainian fathers, sons and husbands targeted less than 10 kilometres from the front line. A checkpoint which in less than eight hours would the place the journalists would be meeting these soldiers. 

Shortly after the news of this tragedy, Igor informed the journalists that there was another checkpoint not far from the one they were supposed to visit. 

The night came, the shelling continued and the morning arrived. With great anticipation, the journalists were eager to meet with the first line of defence against the Russians. 

Upon arriving to the checkpoint, with the noise of car engines running in the background, Igor and the commander of the checkpoint embraced like old friends who have been reunited after years of being apart. 

The truth is that these people see each other on a bi-weekly basis but in the arena of war, a couple of hours is enough to change the fate of anyone. 

One could immediately tell, these people had stories to tell. Stories of loss, triumph and anger.

The man in charge talked to the journalists who were left speechless at what he had to say, the amount of loss these people have undergone while defending their country is immense. The most fascinating thing to come out of all this is that they feel that it is their duty to defend their country at all costs and the journalists felt that to be true. 

Before leaving, the soldier in charge looked at the journalists and promptly ripped off a patch from his uniform and handed it to the journalists. “This was the badge of the first Kharkiv territorial defence unit” he said. 

He also said that all the soldiers perished while defending a school from a land attack by Russians. More than 20 people slaughtered for the sake of a mad man who wants to invade a country. 

Many questions arose in the journalists minds, why all this killing? How much more loss can these soldiers take? Why would this soldier feel the need to thank two Maltese journalists by giving them a token which represents their biggest strength?

Ukrainian volunteers 

Throughout both stays in Ukraine by the journalists, they met many a volunteer coming from all walks of life. Some worked in the iGaming sector, other were teachers and so on. The common cause between these people is their will and motivation to help others. 

While in Kharkiv, the journalists met with Galina and Sergey who dropped everything they were doing on the 24 February to help people. 

That’s all they wanted to do: to help.

In Kharkiv, there wasn’t a street which didn’t host a bombed out building. Basically every street had rubble from air strikes, shelling, ground attacks and so on. There was a need for a volunteer organisation, and Galina and Sergey definitely stepped up to fill the need that there was. 

This couple had sacrificed their livelihoods and personal safety in order to get supplies to people, help them escape and also provide temporary shelter for them until they can get back to safety. 

Sergey together with a friend of his took the journalists around the city over a three-day period and they showed them what Kharkiv had gone through, what the people went through and most importantly how resilient the people are. 

With every person that the journalists met, they were always welcomed and were told stories which would leave one in tears. Why all this suffering? 

At the end of the day the journalists wanted to hear the stories of these people, without any further expectations but at the same time they were met with such thanks and praise for their work that they could have lived the lives of kings among these people. 

Not because of monetary value given to them but because of the gratitude of the people who saw the journalists as people who only want to listen to their stories and share them. 

These people fed us from the little food they had and although they were living through hell, they always saw the silver lining in front of them.