The first day of April. 37th day of the war
Even though it's Friday, a day that is supposed to be relaxed and spent in anticipation of the weekend, it was a hard one for me. I have 2 meetings and 5 classes, each of these interactions required preparation, and I also needed to work on my regular tasks. So, overall, I worked for about 13 hours today, which means I didn't have time to read or watch the news. I didn't even hear a couple of air raid sirens during the day.
Anyway, after dinner I started scrolling through channels to read what has happened during the day - which was about 100 news posts on different topics. One of the most discussed ones today (and over the past 2 days, I think) is explosions in Belgorod in russia. On March 29, ammunition depots exploded near Belgorod. Russian officials called it a human-caused incident, but according to unofficial information, the explosion was caused by a missile launched by the Ukrainian military. The Ukrainian side stated that this explosion happened due to a violation of security rules.
Explosion at the ammunition depot near Belgorod. PHOTO CREDIT
And today in the same city there was a large-scale fire at the oil depot. Local authorities claim they saw two Ukrainian helicopters there, which allegedly carried out an airstrike that led to the fire. In Ukraine, the government representatives stated that we are busy defending our own country, and what is happening in russia must be controlled by russia. Which sounds like a totally valid point to me.
Today's fire at the oil depot in Belgorod. PHOTO CREDIT
There has been quite a bit of speculation about the reason behind those explosions. Everything that I personally think about this is as follows. I like to see how people in Belgorod panic, evacuate and begin to distrust the authorities. How they begin to realize what WAR, and not a "special operation", is like. As they begin to realize that this tragedy, this crime in the form of an attack on a neighboring country, cannot but affect each of them - someone in the economic sense, and someone physically, in the form of explosions and air raid signals. Perhaps by standing in huge lines at gas stations, packing up all of their essentials and valuables in half an hour to evacuate the house quickly, and comforting their crying, frightened children, they will begin to understand how we have felt every day, for 37 days already.
Perhaps. But I'm not sure of that.
Car owners are queueing at the fuel station being afraid of the oil shortage. Looks painfully familiar to me and makes me recall the first days of the war. It's wrong to enjoy seeing someone's trouble, but in case of the occupant country, it makes me happy to see they will feel a part of what we feel. PHOTO CREDIT
Another interesting news was from the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine. They reported creating the first NFT museum of war which raised more than 600 thousand dollars in support of Ukraine in the first day of sales. A total of 1,282 digital artworks were purchased. The money raised, certainly, will go to the army and cyber resistance. This way of combining blockchain technology and art serves the purpose of documenting historical truth about the war of russia against Ukraine. You can visit the museum or purchase a work of art here.
A screenshot from Mykhailo Fedorov's (Minister of Digital Transformation in Ukraine) Telegram channel.
And lastly, a bit of sad news. After all, it's war, and we should remember who our enemy is and what it's capable of.
Ombudsman Liudmila Denisova reported that in Novyi Bykiv village (Chernihiv region), the occupants kidnap children to use them as "live shield" for their columns. Such cases are also recorded in Kyiv, Sumy and Zaporizhzhia regions. I have many questions for those who feel they have the right to harm children - any children on the planet. But there is something that evokes some sarcastic emotion in me. According to the russian government, their army is the second most powerful army in the world (in fact, we see a bunch of homeless-ish invaders on non-working or semi-working equipment, who live so poorly in their country that they steal not only money and jewelry from local villagers, but also sneakers, children's toys, pans and even Nutella). So my question is as follows.
Does the second most powerful army in the world need children to hide behind them like a human shield?