Sumy. Morning. Call. Sweety, the war started! Missiles. Suitcases. Documents. Children. One, the other and the third. Six, nine, eleven. Kitty. Dog. Car, engine. Stop! What's up? We have forgotten the cat's litter box.
Road. Bad road. Good road. Column of cars. Moskali. Stay calm, be cool - my back is sweating. Cars. Cars. So many cars. Column. Columns of cars. There was a vehicle crash. People died.
Kids: What's next? War, there will be war, that's all. Video: Russian tanks in the streets of Sumy. The city was surrendered without a fight. Tears. Day. Night. Day. Night. Video: Sumy did not surrender, the city is fighting! Kids, keep your shoes and jackets on. It is therefore required.
Vinnytsia. Rest. The first alarm. Missile in the sky. The kids cry, Mom, will they kill us? Where are we going, sweetie? To the border. I know Polish. And you are the father of many children. The queue is lifelong. The cat does not leave the trunk. The dog lives under the front seat. They do not drink or eat, nor do people with them. Children eat sweets. News, news, news. Everything looks bad. This ugly mug of putler: We will show you real decommunization! Hey, buddy, what did you want to know about the Ukrainian military but was too ashamed to ask?
The resistance. The enemy stopped. The enemy is freezing. The enemy is terrified. The enemy is getting angry; it kills, rapes and robs. The enemy croaks daily, forever and ever and ever.
We are safe and sound.
Our city mixes Molotov-Ribbentrop cocktails. Sumy's pretty much Suomi. Let us show you the next Winter War. Just the way you asked. Bread with salt, young pioneers with flowers, hunters with rocket launchers, carpenters with machine-guns, Konotop witches with curses.
Sumy under siege, mother and stepfather after the surgery in Kyiv. Evacuation. Prostration.
Mariupol, Mariupol Drama Theatre, refugees, stories – horror/horror/horror.
We need someplace to stay. We need some money to get by. Children should attend school. Friends in military need help. My wife is an angel and can solve any problem with a touch/word. Shabby apartment for 18 people: kids, women, seniors. My volunteer brother. To pick up, to collect. Thermal cameras. Sniper scopes. Tents. Marines. Drive to Kramatorsk. Donate, donate, donate, while there is some money. Very soon - no money left.
Bucha. Irpin. Slava and Inna are friends from Gostomel. Mriya plane. Mriya is no more . It's the true face of the Russian world. Terrible grin, bloody smile. Mobile crematoriums - mobile Auschwitz. Rashism on a full scale. And our first victories, the first offensive.
Sumy is liberated. Forty kilometers from the Russian border.
What do you do? Jestem pisarzem (I'm a writer). Co piszesz (What do you write)? I'm writing a book. On what? On the war. Which war? And what do you think? Do you feel it is timely right now? If you can and know how to, then yes.
Because Ukraine will win. So there will be a need to read something interesting.
Authors invited by Anatolii and Kateryna Pityk
translated from the Ukrainian: Olena Zamoyska