There are times at night when Svitlana Dvorchina will not leave her apartment when the air-raid alarm goes off.
asserted
alarm → be → apartment
It can be more secure to stay at home, she feels, rather than join the rush to a shelter.
asserted
she → stay → shelter
And her two young children can be so tired from playing in the afternoon that they sleep through the noise.
asserted
they → play → noise
“They don’t hear it,” she says.
asserted
she → hear → it
“Even when we have these massive night attacks on Kyiv, for example, my kids can sleep well.
asserted
kids → have → example
But me, I do not sleep that way.
asserted
I → sleep → ?
I hear every explosion.”
asserted
I → hear → explosion
Dvorchina, 36, has moved all their beds to a corner of the room so they are as far as possible from the windows, in case a blast sends glass flying.
asserted
glass → move → case
Like so many in the Ukrainian capital, she thinks about the danger from drone and missile strikes, and she knows she can wake the children and run to a damp basement or a crowded underground metro station.
asserted
she → think → basement
Often, her decision is to stay with Eilisai, 11, and Artem, 6, and let them sleep.
asserted
them → stay → Eilisai
She remembers what her husband, Yurii, told her earlier in the war: “Do not run away.
asserted
husband → remember → war
She has to do this on her own.
asserted
She → have → own
Yurii, a professional soldier, died from cancer six months ago.
asserted
Yurii → die → cancer
We are talking at a care hub where parents can give their children an escape from the war.
asserted
parents → talk → war
Eilisai and Artem are in a library down the corridor with a crowd of other kids listening to stories.
asserted
crowd → listen → stories
Dvorchina speaks with an incredible calm about the choices she has to make as winter approaches, even though the options are fraught: she cannot afford the rent with Yurii gone, and she is not sure if the heating will work.
asserted
heating → speak → rent
“It’s hard to explain what this is, but it’s definitely not life.
asserted
it → ’ → ?
It’s surviving.”Olena Klochik
asserted
It → survive → ?
Every decision is a gamble when Russia is intensifying its drone and missile strikes.
asserted
Russia → intensify → strikes
In Kyiv, people talk about “total war” from Russian attacks on civilian targets like petrol stations, passenger trains, buses and homes.
asserted
people → talk → stations
Ukrainians continue their lives despite the air raid alerts, trying to make the most of every peaceful moment, but the pressure is exhausting after more than four years of war.
Olena Klochik weeps when she describes life under Russian attack.
asserted
she → continue → attack
“It’s a fear.
asserted
It → ’ → ?
It’s not a life.
asserted
It → ’ → ?
It’s surviving,” she says.
asserted
she → survive → ?
“What we do is we try to catch a moment of life between air alarms.”
asserted
we → try → alarms
Her tears fall as she talks.
asserted
she → fall → ?
Her younger brother, Maxim, a soldier, died in eastern Ukraine one week ago.
asserted
brother → die → Ukraine
He left a trench in the fighting around Pokrovsk to rescue a wounded comrade, only to be killed by a landmine.
asserted
He → leave → landmine
Their mother has been asked to supply a DNA sample so he can be formally identified.
asserted
he → ask → sample
Klochik, 37, is angry and distraught as she speaks about the cruelty of the war.
asserted
she → speak → war
Her three children, Kyrylo, 14, Sofiia, 10, and Petro, 9, are in the library with the others while we talk.
asserted
we → talk → others
“Our children have to study in the shelters,” says Klochik, speaking through a translator.
asserted
Klochik → have → translator
“They always have to be somewhere hiding.
asserted
They → have → ?
Here, at Caritas, I come for my children to distract them from the war.
asserted
children → come → war
And here we are all together, and we do something to help our children.
asserted
we → do → children
“It’s hard to explain what this is, but it’s definitely not life.
asserted
it → ’ → ?
It’s surviving.”
asserted
It → survive → ?
There is exhaustion in her voice, although her words do not sound like despair.
asserted
words → be → despair
She says Ukraine cannot rely on US President Donald Trump and should get more help from Europe to stop the Russian attacks.
asserted
Ukraine → say → attacks
“We are invincible,” she says.
asserted
she → say → ?
…and 80 more, not listed.
The Aporia
