“Our sons will not leave a piece of our land to the enemy”

Candle wax and tears flow at the same time under the nave of the church, located in the central square of Lutsk. Ivan and Vadim, born in 1987 and 1994 respectively, will now be for the inhabitants of this city in western Ukraine, shared between fear and revolt, the faces of war. They are among the four soldiers killed the day before, Friday, March 11, during Russian airstrikes on the Lutsk military airport.

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In their open coffins, while the music rises in the church, the two soldiers look peaceful despite their faces swollen by the violence of the explosions. These bombardments came as a shock to the population, whereas this part of Ukraine had hitherto been relatively spared from the bombs. To the left of the coffins, women, kerchiefs on their heads, weep trembling. On the right, motionless soldiers stare at Ivan and Vadim, their reclining comrades. “We sacrificed our best sons. It is the symbol of our love for our country. This is the price of freedom”says the pope, who asks: “What’s the point of all this? Why is a neighbor attacking another neighbor?”

At the end of the mass, on the square, it is as if the whole city had come to say goodbye to its two soldiers. Olena was Ivan’s neighbor, she bursts into tears. “This child survived the worst during the war in the Donbass in 2014, he returned safe and sound. And there he is killed in his own city, she says. All I want is for them to leave our sons alone! Mine is near Mariupol right now. His wife and their baby are not far away. I let you imagine. What a pity !”

“With these deaths, war is knocking at our doors, breathes this resident of Lutsk, her arms laden with a huge bouquet of roses. This little one was really a good person, pure, always smiling, very kind. He was a man with a capital H. I’m afraid, yes. But it’s our home here.”

“It is not the first time in this church that soldiers from Lutsk have been buried, but it has always been soldiers killed by the Russians on a distant front. While these two were killed here, in their hometown”says the mayor of the city, Ihor Polichchuk. The military airfield had been attacked for the first time, on the first day of the war. This second attack surprised the inhabitants. “The level of concern has gone up a notch since Friday morningsays the mayor. Our level of preparation too. But there is no general panic. We want to hit back. Let those who started this war, who ordered these strikes, who invaded us with weapons, be punished!”

A desire for revenge that we find in Tatiana. This head of a local NGO does not mince these words when talking about Russians: “It may sound violent said like that, but we’re going to bury them here. Our sons are proud, courageous, rebellious. They will not leave a piece of our land to the enemy. Me, I’m not afraid, I’m 65 years old. I’m married to an officer.” She adds gesture to support: “If I have to take my shovel there and unscrew their heads, I will do it without hesitation”. Tatiana also has a message for Emmanuel Macron. “We must stop negotiating for hours on the phone with Putin. He is unworthy. He is opening a humanitarian corridor for civilians and bombing them at the same time. What is that?”

Tatiana’s ardor contrasts with the dejection that reigns in the military square of the cemetery, a few kilometers away. In front of the gaping earth, only the immediate family remains. Two men linger in front of the gates. “It’s my son who is buried here”said one. “And I’m my nephew”adds the other. “We would have to close the sky, so that our boys don’t die. Just close the sky. Because if that had been the casewhispers the father, maybe my son would still be alive.”