About the book
War needs statistics. Numerical data on enemy casualties, equipment, losses and victories. But only those who come very close to it understand the nature of war. Only those and anyone who goes off to war themselves. War mercilessly exposes one’s innermost depths. Those perceived to be strong may prove to be weak, just as those perceived weak may in fact be strong.
When writing this book, Vahur Laiapea went to meet people who are deeply affected by Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, whose loved ones it kills and maims, whose souls are left with scars that will never completely heal.
Vahur Laiapea is an Estonian documentary film maker and writer whose work has at times led him into extreme situations. On April 18, 2017, he was kidnapped in Afghanistan by members of the Taliban.
Late that evening, he was standing on the edge of a ready dug grave expecting machine gun fire to riddle his back. It didn’t.
Laiapea has visited Ukraine on numerous occasions during the ongoing war. He is currently working on a documentary film and a book about Serhii Kazimir, a Ukrainian officer who returned home in January 2024 as the result of a prisoner exchange after having been a prisoner of war in Russia for almost two years.
https://www.ibidem.eu/en/Topics/Social-Sciences/Political-Science/Diaries-from-Ukraine.html
Introduction by the author. Our War in Ukraine
The legend of the Holy Grail speaks of a paraplegic king. Parzifal did not ask a single question about the procession that was passing him. Nor did he ask about the woman carrying a vessel at the front
of the procession. He saw but didn’t ask. And because he failed to ask, women could not give birth, trees couldn’t bear fruit, cows didn’t give milk and the king became paralyzed. All because he had
been taught to politely remain silent.
According to Russian writer Artur Solomonov, a priest from St. Petersburg has been arrested for claiming that Russian soldiers who die in Ukraine will not go straight to heaven. The paragraph under which he was charged deals with spreading false information about the army.
There can be various reasons for remaining silent. Comfort. Fear. Malice. Maybe it doesn’t affect me. Maybe it will pass. Maybe someone else will deal with it.
It will affect us sooner or later. It won’t pass if we don’t intervene. We live in the vicinity of Russia, which is attacking Ukraine. We could be next. Or the ones after the next. It makes no difference. Our neighbour is a people who have lost their moral compass. A people whose chosen leaders have thoroughly trained them to hate us, prepared them to destroy us. Among them there are undoubtedly people who do not wish for this. But most of them remain silent. Maybe it will pass?
The texts in this book are written in Ukraine and Estonia between May 2022 and June 2023. In my written accounts I have tried to give a face to the people who continue to be ravaged by this hideous war.
Vahur Laiapea
In Suurupi on June 25, 2023