Quote:
"Death and war is not black and white. It is not like you think of it in your head, being a world covered in clouds and dark skies. It's much worse than that.
You die in sunlight. In bright skies and sunshine. You can be driving or sitting, completely minding your own self and die from a rocket, a bullet, or artillery. There is no music to accompany your coming doom. No warnings.
Urgent tasks remain unfinished. You just stop being. You die and become meat. Everything about you is gone. You are no longer yourself, you become meat rotten in the sun. It can happen anytime. No experience, weapons, or friends can save you sometimes. If you are going to die you are going to die.
No, it (war and dying) is not like cinema or books. The plot does not revolve around who you are. You just die like a letter on a page being turned and there is nothing you can do about it. But what we (the living) can do is remember. We can build monuments to these people who give their lives so hideously.
We can say we will remember the sunny days those men died. To so many of us a sunny day with birds in the sky will never be as it was before. It will never be peaceful again because we know death creeps in the shadows of the trees and in the ditches and in buildings.
All we can do for the guys who died so ugly in the sun is be cautious of the shadows and remember they did not pass and rot for no reason. Even dead dogs will feed the grass. No, these men did not die for no reason. Our children will remember that I'm sure."
- Ukrainian Soldier. Invasion of Ukraine. April 26th, 2022.