How bombs change ideals
The war in Ukraine has not only devastated lives and landscapes – it has also changed what many Ukrainians hope for. What are their new priorities? By Tania Piliavska (text), Tetyana Chernyavska (photos)
Food prices used to be high, wages low, and we were unhappy with these conditions. But after 24 February 2022 all these things became secondary. Since then, the most important thing has been to hear the voices of the people closest to you, even if only over the phone. Nobody cared about quarrels any more. Many reasons to argue seem trivial today. People avoid family conflicts when they know they might lose their relatives tomorrow.
Illia works for the National Police of Ukraine. Before the war he was stationed in Melitopol, a city in south-eastern Ukraine that is now occupied by the Russian army. A month after Melitopol was occupied, Illia moved to a city controlled by the Ukrainian government. During the war he has twice been at a hotspot near the town of Orikhiv. Illia describes his ideal weekend in peacetime and at a hotspot: ‘Before the war, my days off were Saturday and Sunday. I’d wake up and check social media to see if anyone had written to me. Then I spent time with my family, helped my parents around the house and had a nap in the afternoon. In the evenings I met my friends, had dinner in a café and just had a good time with them.’
Many reasons to argue seem trivial today.
Illia remembers one of his days off in Orikhiv. He and his comrades lived in the basement of the police station. They all got up together at 7 a.m., made breakfast and went to a general briefing, where the commander informed them about the current situation and dismissed those who had the day off. ‘I was one of the lucky ones,’ says Illia. They put on civilian clothes, which were more comfortable, and went to the market to buy sweets. ‘We missed them and really wanted to eat some.’ Then they went back to the police station, and Illia watched films, drank tea and smoked.
Kyiv, May 2023
Tania Piliavska, autor of "Bombed Ukrainians’ ideals of life". Photo: Momen Mostafa
Tania Piliavska, autor of “Bombed Ukrainians’ ideals of life”. Photo: Momen Mostafa
Kyiv, May 2023
He was very lucky that day – he managed to reach his family and close friends. ‘We went for lunch at a school in a nearby street. The school was closed, and volunteers cooked for us in the school canteen,’ he says. At 8 p.m. all the fighters met again for dinner, the food allocated to them by the command. They ate and talked to each other. That was an important part of the day: it mattered to support one another and to look after each other’s mental health. Before dinner the men showered, going to a hotel that had stopped operating, 1.5 km from their police station.
At 10 p.m. Illia went out once more to smoke and drink coffee. Then he heard three or four explosions and the Russian artillery firing.
Since the war began, we have learnt to value again the things we always took for granted.
From my own experience and Illia’s, I can say that Ukrainians’ ideals have changed noticeably. We have lost friends, some of our families have been violently torn apart, Russian soldiers have shot our relatives, our houses have burnt down or been destroyed by bombs.
Since the war began, we have learnt to value again the things we always took for granted: showers, the internet, mobile networks, medicine and simple products such as bread, vegetables and sweets. In the first months of the war we had none of these. Now we value them all the more. War forces you to be grateful for simple things that a modern society does not even notice. Now I am grateful that I am still alive, that I can continue my studies and tell the world about the atrocities that happen in Ukraine every day.
