Then They Came

Then They Came is a short story set in an occupied village north of Kyiv, from the perspective of Katya, a pensioner, wife and mother, and follows her story from the eve of war to the liberation of her home.

That's Victory Day in the Russian Federation, which commemorates the world's heroic victory over Nazism in World War Two. Ironically, it might be the day Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin formally declares war on Ukraine (because, of course, he terms the devastation that he has already inflicted on millions of innocent Ukrainians as simply a "Special Operation"). Whatever one of those is.

I'd like it to be the day that the reading community raises a hundred-foot high pile of money to support Ukrainian refugees, internally displaced persons, women and children, as well as the future reconstruction of a victorious Ukraine, on behalf of a wonderful charity called United Help Ukraine. They operate daily in the war zone, sending humanitarian aid, procuring vehicles for local partners to drive those supplies to where it's most needed, providing internet and fuel in towns and cities ravaged by Russian bombardment, sending medical supplies, helping heal those grievously injured in this conflict, and much, much more.