I am now back in Ukraine, but because of the war, Dr. Olga Krsek and I are unable to continue our work at Volodymyr Dahl East Ukrainian National University in Luhansk, so I am teaching at Vinnytsia Institute of Economics and Social Sciences in Vinnytsia. I previously worked here with Dr. Fedir Sokhatsky and his colleagues for two days in May, 2011, so the return is bittersweet. It is wonderful to see my old friends and colleagues again, but it is also very sad, because I am here as a result of the ravages of war, a war that the loving and peaceful Ukrainian people do not need and did not start.
More about Vinnytsia later. For the moment, I want to add a postscript, or rather an update, to my previous entries from 2011. I would like to encourage readers to visit (or revisit) the pages about Luhansk, as well as the page "Ukrainian History, Life and Culture." As you look at the pictures of people (many of them children) and places, please be aware that their lives and homes are forever changed. The settlement Parkhomenko (Пархоменко) and the
village of Stanitsa Luganskaya (Станица Луганская) are no longer idyllic places. These two Ukrainian Cossack communities sit on the border between Russia and Ukraine. These old, historic villages are now in the middle of a war zone, the sites of fierce and bloody battles between Ukrainian and Russian soldiers. I have no idea what these villages look like now. Have the homes and historic museums been leveled? Where are the residents, and how many been killed?
The same questions haunt me about Luhansk. Is my university still standing? What about the school for the deaf where I spent so many hours teaching English to the children? And my apartment building adjacent the Eastern Market? More frightening: what are the fates of my colleagues, neighbors, young deaf students and the young students at the Medical High School where Victor invited me to speak to his classes? How many of them have lost their lives, and who has managed to flee? How many are still huddled in cellars without food, water, power and no way to get word out to family members in other parts of Ukraine? As you look at the photos, be aware that there is a very good chance that some of these innocent people may have been killed, while others have been lucky enough to escape, but all of them have had their lives forever altered and not for the better. And the buildings? Whether they be apartment blocks, schools, churches, museums, hospitals, historic sites, theatres, or businesses, odds are many of them (or most?) are damaged or destroyed.
On a slightly positive note, Olga and her family are safe and staying near Kyiv, but I don't know about her beautiful and adored white cats. I am told Sasha, Masha, and Svetlana are safe, but I have no clue about Victor and his family, Omar and his family, the decorated WWII veteran Gregory, and countless other friends, neighbors, students, colleagues, and passersby.
Keep Ukraine in your thoughts and prayers.
Hi. I was shocked to read media reports from Luhansk. A quick search brought me to your blog entry on the Aviation Museum. Thank you for the informative and fun-to-read photo report.
ReplyDeleteIt's a shame that it looks like the open-air museum has been lost forever: a Dutch journalist called Olaf Koens (@obk on Twitter) visited the International Airport (or the remains of it) which was totally smashed up. It looks as if it was shredded like some office paper. He was also shown the "old mechanical beauties" that were destroyed along the runway. I indeed have no idea if it is the "museum" you blogged about in 2011, as there's no indication in the Dutch reporter's tweets that it was a museum, but anyway I collected his heart-breaking tweets (with pictures) on these pages:
http://matome.naver.jp/odai/2141097927933150101?&page=2 (scroll down a bit)
http://matome.naver.jp/odai/2141097927933150101?&page=3
These pages, which are part of a 4-page compilation, are in Japanese, and the journalist's tweets are in English and Dutch. I added a link to your blog about the Aviation Museum on Page 3 and cited this entry on Page 4 with links to your blog entries from 2011 to encourage Japanese readers to have a look and know how the life was like before/without the fierce violence.
Thank you again. My thoughts are with the innocent people of Ukraine, especially of the bombed cities, towns and villages. I simply can't believe this is happening in 2014 when we talk about the Great War that took place a century ago.
Thank you for your reply and you're very welcome. Yes, it would be an absolute shame if the museum and its historic collection has been lost. I am going to keep hoping that it survived somehow, as it is not located exactly at the international airport, but at an older unused airfield. Still, my hope is very thin. I have no way of finding out if the aircraft have been destroyed, because everyone I know in Luhansk has either fled or cannot communicate with me.
ReplyDeleteThere are still a number of photos I have not yet organized and uploaded, but when I get caught up on other blog postings, I will add them. My friend Sasha took quite a few, as well, and I need to go through his photos again, also. Together, we took at least one photograph of every plane and helicopter at the museum.
Thank you for the links. I will take a look at them.
Yes, it is all a terrible, senseless and avoidable tragedy. The people in Luhansk and other villages and cities in East Ukraine just want to live in peace. This war is the result of utter greed and lust for power. It was instigated and is perpetuated by despots who don't even live in Ukraine, and they don't care who they hurt in the process. They are protecting no one.
Thank you again.
Update: Recently, I had a telephone conversation with my dear friend Sasha who took me to the aircraft museum in Luhansk three years ago. He told me that he doesn't think the planes or helicopters at the museum were damaged, because most of the fighting took place in other areas away from the museum.
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