Memorials

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Maidan Square is the central square in Kyiv.  It is the site of the major protests since Ukraine regained its independence, including the Euromaidan protests.  One of the first things that you see when you enter Maidan Square is the impromptu memorial garden for those who lost their lives defending Ukraine from the Russian invasion. When soldiers are killed, the families or other members of the fallen’s unit will place a photograph, a small Ukrainian flag, or other memento with the name and their dates of birth and death.  This display started with a few dozen of memorials, and now it has tens of thousands of soldiers memorized. 

The first time I saw the memorial area, I was mesmerized by the sight of it.  So many pictures of young men whose lives were cut short.  The faces were often smiling, sometimes they would be looking tough, sometimes their faces were blank, as if they were caught unaware when their photo was taken.  And every time I return, the site is larger. 

There are also similar sites in many cities.  In Mykolaiv at a central square where a Russian missile struck a government building to start the war in their area.  Cherkasy has a site, and so do many of the smaller cities.  Even the villages will memorialize their losses.

I think back to the soldiers that we lost in Iraq.  We would hold a memorial service for each service member our units lost.  I was always moved and saddened by the loss.  But the scale is so much greater in Ukraine, with 20, 30, or 40 times as many lives lost. 

I came to start dreading coming up to the memorials.  There is so much death.  There is so

Much pain for their families. So much potential lost that I would cringe when I would look upon them. But I would still go up to them and look upon those faces and pray that this all may end.