DESPITE HELL, PATIENCE—AND MUSIC:
A 'Holy Day of Music' In Wake of Russian Strikes, As Ukraine Pushes Back
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As I send this, all of central and eastern Ukraine are under air-raid alarm. We have reports of Russian missiles currently in the air en route from the Caspian Sea. Meanwhile here are our latest reports:
DESPITE HELL, PATIENCE—AND MUSIC: A 'Holy Day of Music' In Wake of Russian Strikes, As Ukraine Pushes Back
See here a scene from the counteroffensive, courtesy of my friend and Ukrainian warrior @ykpaiinec : slow and steady, not flashy and brash. But even in the hell of war, the Ukrainians, whether in the trenches or in bombed cities, keep a spirit of whimsicality and joy: from the top general wearing a Baby Yoda patch to people in Lviv singing in the streets despite threats.
with the music of my friends @pyrigbatig
The meaning of de-escalation: surrender of the free to the smug elites
by Joe Lindsley, TVP World
LVIV, UKRAINE—I would like to share with you four images from Ukraine this past week: 1. In Kyiv, the president of South Africa lectures “both sides to find peace.” 2. In Lviv, on the cobbled streets, seven people sit in silence for an hour, contemplating the death of Olek, a poet-soldier, at the hands of the Russians. 3. Down in Kherson, the chief rabbi of Ukraine, crawls on the ground under shelling while he delivers aid to victims of Russia’s dam destruction. 4. Back in Lviv, a dozen American men and women in their 50s and 60s teach English every day for a month, despite the sound of air-raid sirens and the ever-present threat of missiles.
The person in the first image, President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa, does not understand what those in the other three scenes do.
"This war must be settled and there should be peace through negotiations," the South African president told reporters in Kyiv on June 16. He’d only been here a few hours and already thought he knew decisively what to do. Smugly, he spoke of Russia’s war on Ukraine as some sort of natural disaster, a tornado foisted upon Ukraine by some unknown, godly force. “We argue that there must be de-escalation on both sides,” he said.
“De-escalation.” What does de-escalation mean for Ukrainians? Does it mean that people like Olek should hide in their cellars or escape to Monte Carlo or London instead of facing the fight, while Russia destroys Ukraine’s Russian-speaking cities? Does it mean that those English teachers should stay put in North Carolina instead of traveling to a war zone to equip Ukrainians with a stronger power to shout to the world their message of freedom? Should the rabbi have likewise stayed in his synagogue in Kyiv while people drown from the Russian destruction? If a woman is being raped, would you say that both she and the rapist need to de-escalate?
Anyone who ever calls for Ukraine to de-escalate, regardless of what they say, believes neither in democracy nor in decency. As King George VI said in his famed elocution accurately portrayed in the film The King’s Speech, those calling for Ukraine to de-escalate only believe “[in] the mere primitive doctrine that ‘might is right.’”
Read the full story at Poland’s TVP World.
PREVIOUSLY: Nezlamni / Unbreakable: A War-time Podcast from Lviv—Episode 1: The Russian-Induced Floods
Here’s our new podcast, recorded from the cobbled street outside of Lviv café @facet_lviv , to show a bit of the reality of life in war. Co-hosted by Ukrainian artist Oles Derega @derega , this episode also features @safi.lenter from Crimea and Yaro from Lviv.
“The mission of everyone here is to nurture one’s spiritual growth … so you can be there for others.”
Regular Resources:
Air-Raid Alert Map
State of the War Map: shows Russian positions and what Ukrainians have taken back; updated daily
“[It's something rare in our world of corporate and automated radio regular, real humanity.”
—Neil Steinberg, in the Chicago Sun-Times, on Joe Lindsley’s daily Ukraine reports with Bob Sirott of Chicago’s WGN Radio. We invite you to follow on YouTube.
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ABOUT US: Reporting Every Single Weekday Since Russia’s Full-Scale Invasion
"Joseph Lindsley's reports are enlightening, frightening, heart-wrenchingly and poetically descriptive." —a regular listener to the daily report from Ukraine on Chicago's WGN Radio with Bob Sirott
“I just returned from three months in Ukraine. Not my first time there, and certainly not my last; a powerful experience for me personally, but I must say that JOE’s REPORTING, HIS INSIGHTS, and, OBVIOUSLY, HIS HEART, ARE SPOT-ON.” —Jim, a Telegram follower of Ukrainian Freedom News
American journalist Joe Lindsley, in Ukraine since 2020, leads the Ukrainian Freedom News team of Ukrainians and foreigners on a mission to share real talk and real life in war-time with the world. Every weekday since late February 2022, he has reported live from Ukraine on Chicago’s WGN Radio with host Bob Sirott. You can listen to all episodes at UkrainianFreedomNews.com or via our YouTube channel.
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UKRAINIAN FREEDOM NEWS
Truth to the World | Supplies to Ukraine
Joe Lindsley, Editor-in-chief
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Jean-Baptiste Besson, Field Editor
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