Fighting For Ukraine

September 7th 2026 Yuriy says a long-suppressed fear now haunts him daily: what happens if Ukraine loses. As a soldier, he believes Ukraine’s disappearance would mean his death on the battlefield or e...

7 Sep 2min

August 24th 2026 On Ukraine’s Independence Day, Yuriy calls the celebration “nice but strange” as the country keeps fighting for freedom from the enemy in the north. He admits that he mostly says “Rus...

24 Aug 3min

August 13th 2026 Yuriy describes the fact that Russians are erasing entire Ukrainian cities—first with mass artillery and then with heavy KAB bombs—reducing them to ash and rubble while calling it “li...

13 Aug 3min

August 4th 2026 Yuriy reflects on a recurring message from a friend who has served since the first days of the war: “It’s a miracle we are still standing.” He recalls his first unit that defended Kyiv...

3 Aug 2min

July 17th 2026 Yuriy recalls meeting a Kurdish sheikh in Iraq about 10 years earlier, a lifelong warrior who had fought ISIS, Al Qaeda, Saddam Hussein’s army, and rival Kurdish clans, and who said he ...

17 Jul 3min

July 9th 2026 After a long absence, Yuriy returns on July 9 and explains he’s been overwhelmed by depression and insomnia while continuing his military duties amid constant bombings, personal losses, ...

9 Jul 3min

March 15th 2026 Yuriy recalls buying an olive military backpack in early 2022 despite friends insisting the Ukraine war would end soon, and now—after wearing through three and needing a fourth—he refl...

15 Mar 2min

February 20th 2026 Yuriy reflects on Ukraine’s Day of Remembrance of the Heroes of the Heavenly Hundred, honoring protesters killed during the February 2014 shootings in Kyiv and describing them as th...

20 Feb 3min