Five Ukrainian friends who came of age in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha have had their lives, their neighbourhood and their country changed forever by Russia's invasion.
abc.net.au/news/ukraine-war-saga-unfolds-across-the-lives-of-five-friends/102000238In the cemetery where Oleksii Zavadskyi and Yurii Stiahliuk are buried, the women they loved take drags on the men's favourite brands of cigarettes. Clouds of smoke are exhaled in silence.
"This war is not just about soldiers," Anna says. "It's about everyone connected to them, and their pain." Liberation revealed the mass murder of civilians and cruel accounts of rape. More than 450 people were killed, according to local authorities. Oleksii was a brawler, a rebel on the outside but intensely introverted. Vadym, a terse, self-described "football hooligan", was their leader.
Russia had shifted tactics, withdrawing troops from the north after fierce Ukrainian resistance and concentrating on what Moscow described as the "liberation" of the contested Donbas region.
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Zelenskyy makes request to Australia on anniversary of Russian invasionUkraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called for Australia to reopen its embassy in Kyiv. 9News
Read more »
Zelenskyy makes request to Australia on anniversary of Russian invasionUkraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called for Australia to reopen its embassy in Kyiv. 9News
Read more »
Grief and defiance in Kyiv on first anniversary of war in UkraineHouses have been destroyed, lives uprooted and loved ones lost but despite this terrible toll, Ukrainians remain upbeat
Read more »
‘Rail Force One’: how Ukraine railways got Joe Biden safely to KyivAlexander Kamyshin, head of the service, doesn’t get much sleep, but his team coordinated the president’s visit without a single leak
Read more »
Zelensky asks Australia to reopen Kyiv embassy, requests more BushmastersUkraine’s President Volodymr Zelensky has urged Australia to reopen its embassy in Kyiv during his first internationally televised live news conference to mark one year since Russia’s invasion of his country.
Read more »
Moldova dismisses Russian claims of Ukrainian plot to invade breakaway regionMoldova’s government has called for calm after Moscow claimed without evidence that an invasion of Transnistria was likely
Read more »