ONE THOUSAND DAYS OF RESISTANCE

UNCERTAINTY LOOMS LARGE IN UKRAINE AFTER RUSSIA'S AGGRESSIVE PUSH, TRUMP'S RE-ELECTION AND EXHAUSTED SOLDIERS ON THE FRONTLINE

- BHANU PRAKASH CHANDRA

I was in the Donbas region of Ukraine after the first 500 days of the full-scale Russian invasion that started on February 24, 2022. It has now been 500 days since I left Ukraine after witnessing the war firsthand (November 19 marked 1,000 days of the war). While on the frontline, I was concerned that I might get hit by a Russian drone, artillery fire or a sniper's bullet. I was particularly anxious at night while staying in hotels, where I could hear sirens blaring through the dark hours. I was most afraid during my stay at Hotel Sapphire in Kramatorsk, a town in eastern Ukraine. The town was regularly bombarded with missiles owing to its proximity to the frontline.

My nightmare came true almost a year after I left Ukraine. This August, Hotel Sapphire was hit by a Russian Iskander-M missile. The impact zone was the room I had stayed in. The missile attack killed Ryan Evans, a former British soldier who was escorting Reuters journalists as a safety adviser. And, the hotel was reduced to a rubble. Two months after I left, a Ukrainian soldier by the call sign 'Panda' from the 20th Separate Assault Brigade, who had escorted me to the frontline trenches near Velika Novosilka, was gravely injured in a Russian cluster bombing at the same location where I had spent hours with him. Panda sustained severe shrapnel injuries that disfigured his face and scarred his body. The beautiful church that caught my attention in Kurakhove, a small town I crossed while travelling from Kramatorsk to Velika Novosilka, is now surrounded by Russian forces on three sides. By the time you read this, Kurakhove most likely will have fallen into Russian hands.