Invasion Day +40 Thank you all for the immediate and supportive bounce-back to the site: saturated by distress we maybe, but site visits returned yesterday to their previous level after a small dip: perhaps the weekend saw the need for a stress break? Not only this, but letters are pouring in again, thank you all. Please keep them coming: now is not the time to give up on freedom, on democracy, on justice and on truth. These will prevail and we will prevail as a brave and determined collective of writers in support of all that makes for peace in the world. And we continue to stand with Ukraine.
And we will continue to support the thread of art, literature and culture that has woven its way so vitally into this blog, please do read the letter from Victoriuz Bonner in Berlin which explains so well why this is critically important.
Meanwhile, the staggering level of Russia's battlefield defeat at Kyiv is only now starting to become apparent with the level of bitter, angry, death and destruction left behind by the ill-disciplined criminal and semi-feral rabble that Putin has deliberately trained for that role and has dared to call an 'army.' Make no mistake, Putin's aim was, and always was, the total destruction of Ukraine. His continual boasts that his 'special operation' is going according to plan is sadly, terribly, and appallingly true. We have to stand now and be counted. Estimates vary according to source with varying degrees of reliability, but the reports of some respected western analysts are suggesting Putin has now lost a staggering 40,000 men in the field. No wonder he is so desperately scouring the dregs of his equally isolated allies to try and find replacements. Of the 40,000, around a quarter of his original front line troops, estimates suggest 18,300, many conscripts and many from forced ethic minorities, have been killed, with the remainder wounded out of the battle, taken prisoner, or most tellingly of all, 'missing believed fled.'
Putin of course as a megalomaniac psychopath will have absolutely no concern over any of these losses, equalled only by his lack of any concern whatsoever for the thousands of innocent civilians who have perished under his hand in Mariupol, Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Bucha... As they did in Chechnya and Syria, and as they will in all war.
And unless he is stopped now, as they soon will in Estonia, in Latvia, in Lithuania, in Poland, in Moldova and in Romania. Where else? This is what is at stake.
Putin must be stopped, the war must be stopped, whether by military force, the rising of the new blue and white, by being toppled by his generals, or eventually by economic sanction and increasing isolation, even perhaps if remotely, by his own people. Even now he is showing increasing signs of the beast cornered without a way out. A dangerous and immediate situation for us all.
But there are glimpses of hope here, let us raise a cheer, if maybe a little muted, for the couple who married, and joyfully so, in a Metro station shelter amidst the ruins of Kharkiv. Here's to Anastasiya and Anton married at the weekend. As they said between them, 'There a place for love, for kindness and for warmth.' Bless you both for bringing tears to Hoggys' eyes and a glimmer of hope for us all.
Today's letters:
From Victoriuz Bonner, Berlin
Dear Hoggy,
‘Why Saving the Arts is so Vital’
Thank you very much for this blog and the thread of the arts that you mention running through it. I thought I would write about why you are absolutely right to want this blog to be a means of help for Ukraine in this way.
In the war in Ukraine, we are witnessing an autocrat and despot at work who, in his fantasies of omnipotence, sees himself entitled to deny a country and its people their cultural identity and is trying to diminish it. He wants to destroy their cultural heritage, make it vanish for good.
Writers, musicians, artists, are the ones shaping a country's cultural history and its inner essence. Their work is a spiritual home to the people now and in the future. They will tell stories, write poems, compose music, paint pictures, capture all that is happening to the people now in their art and it will give people a place they can turn to, that comforts them and reassures them.
The people and the nation are, in multiple ways, shaped by the country’s cultural history which, by every possible means at our disposal, should be protected and preserved. We should remind ourselves of what the Taliban did, what ISIS did in Syria.
By not protecting cultural heritage and its bearers, we destroy parts of humankind’s history. I implore you and your correspondents and readers to continue to do everything possible to keep Ukrainian art and culture alive, and save the lives of the artists, musicians and writers that are bringing such hope and such succour in times of extreme despair. Lose art, lose culture, and the nation’s identity is gone.
This is why Putin is so intent on destroying every possible vestige of Ukraine’s art and culture: his aim is to wipe Ukraine off the face of the earth and to so he seeks to entirely remove its cultural identity. This is why the arts and the artists, the musicians and the music, the writers and their writing must, at all costs, be saved. Without these icons of identity all will be lost. The world will be much poorer and more desolate and fragile place without the culture that is Ukraine.
Please keep the flame of art and culture alive, many will be looking to you, and those like you, who are seeking the same ends, and if only one thread of Ukraine’s rich tapestry is eventually preserved, the effort and the sacrifice for the future reweaving will have been worth it.
Keep going Hoggy, and I support your call in this blog, it is impressive.
Victoriuz Bonner (Miss)
Berlin
Dear Miss Bonner,
We will.
For as long as we can, we will.
Thank you for this unfailing message of support and good will, it is a call to use our craft powerfully and well.
I ask all who read the blog and those with whom they share the journey to support us and write, and paint, and sing, perform, and take pictures, make films, think, for peace and for Ukraine.
Please share these experiences with us here, together we can make a difference.
Thank you again and thank you to all our correspondents who are standing together whatever, however, and wherever, they are doing it.
With all good wishes,
Hoggy
From writer and photographer, Andy Gregory, West Midlands
Dear Hoggy,
'Hogsward Nominations for Three Image Makers in Ukraine'
Maksim Levin
Brent Renaud
Juan Arrendondo.
Thank you for continuing to highlight the atrocities that are happening daily in Ukraine.
It is often said that a picture paints a thousand words, and we have all seen war-images from across the world that stay with us forever. Whether it be the grainy images from the trenches in WW1 to more recent events in Ukraine, we should all be indebted to the photographers, videographers, journalists and sound-crews that risk their lives to document the truth and warn us of the barbaric behaviour of some international leaders.
Additionally, the bravery of reporters and documentary-makers can help with later investigations of war-crimes; their evidence can be compelling and help with securing convictions.
Today, I would like to nominate three people for ‘Hogswards’. Sadly though, two of them have lost their lives in recent days. Firstly, Ukrainian photographer and videographer Maksim Levin who was killed a few days ago while covering the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Mr Levin, who worked for a Ukrainian news website and contributed to Reuters, was found dead in a village north of Kyiv. He leaves behind his wife and four children.
Levin, born in 1981, was a documentary filmmaker and had contributed to Reuters’ coverage of Ukrainian problems since 2013. It has been reported that Levin, who had been working in the village of Huta Mezhyhirska had been shot twice by Russian 'servicemen'.
The NGO ‘Reporters Without Borders’, which works to protect journalists across the world, said on Twitter that Levin was the sixth journalist killed in Ukraine since the Russian invasion five weeks ago. Mr Levin was unarmed and apparently wearing a press jacket. The 40-year-old father of four had been working with Ukrainian and international media to try and tell the world what was really happening in his homeland.
My second and third ‘Hogsward’ nominations are two American journalists who were also shot at last week while reporting from Irpin outside the capital of Kyiv. American journalist Brent Renaud was killed, and documentary filmmaker Juan Arredondo was seriously wounded by Russian forces as they were traveling to film refugees a few days ago.
It has been reported by Ukrainian Police that Brent Renaud, a 50-year-old filmmaker, was killed when Russian troops opened fire. Social media accounts have shown a graphic photograph of his body as well as his American passport and media documentation issued by The New York Times. Although he was not working for the NYT at the time, they have paid tribute to him in the international press. It is believed he was on an assignment for Time Magazine focused on the global refugee crisis. Mr Renaud has previously reported from many global hotspots over the past two decades, including Iraq, Afghanistan and Egypt.
Mr Renaud’s colleague at the time, documentary filmmaker Juan Arredondo was seriously injured in the attack. Press reports show Mr Arredondo laying in a hospital bed in Kyiv where he commented that he and Renaud were on their way to film people leaving Kyiv when they crossed a checkpoint and came under fire. It has been reported that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has written to both bereaved families of Messrs’ Levin and Renaud, praising their bravery while documenting human tragedy, devastation and suffering of the millions of Ukrainians.
I could write a thousand words about the brave people we see and hear every time we turn on the television or radio news bulletins; but it would not do justice to them, their professions or the images and stories they bring us. Their careers, their passion and their calling enable us in free and democratic societies to see and experience the tragic lives that others must sadly endure while fighting for their freedom.
I will finish by saying that targeting journalists is a war crime. I trust that one day sense will prevail, and sufficient evidence will be gathered to bring the offenders to justice. Hopefully, the work and evidence gathered by these three Hogsward nominees will assist in the process and their deaths and injuries will not be in vain.
We salute them and will remember them.
Andy Gregory Andy Gregory Photography West Midlands United Kingdom
Dear Andy,
You write so powerfully and well for these nominations and we are humbled to accept them as worthy recipients of 'Hogswards'.
The bravery and the sacrifices that reporters in war make every day are legendary and we owe them a great debt in seeking to purvey the truth and to bolster freedom, democracy and justice.
I will write today to the Press Club in London with your letter and our response and ask that your sentiments (echoed by us all here) are, in whichever ways possible, circulated to the members of the Press Corps. They will not be forgotten.
Thank you for your continued support Andy and for your stand for justice and for peace.
Please spread sunflower seeds for Maksim, for Brent, and for Juan as we will here.
Best wishes,
Hoggy
From Bill Petherick, Scotland
Dear Hoggy,
'Sunflowers for Ukraine'
I write in thanks for the publisher's letter about the booklet of poems and writing for Ukraine, 'Sunflowers for Ukraine,' which is due to be published on the 14th April.
I would like to add my support to the request to writers and artists everywhere to respond however they can and say again the words I have written in the foreword to the booklet.
'Why do we write?
As a writer I have found that along with a certain talent as a caricaturist that people seem to like, I can give an individual, or a group, praise, support their campaigns, or promote their aims and aspirations while at the same time I can reduce them to tears, all with words. A short story or a poem can capture a feeling of exhilaration or highlight the depressive nature of poverty, ill-health, and a lack of wellbeing.
With a few sentences writers can lift your spirits, give you strength, provide motivation and the encouragement to face adversity.
We should not be afraid to write those words.
We should not be afraid to tell the truth.
To write is an opportunity to make a positive change. Within the pages of 'Sunflowers for Ukraine' we have put together our first volume of pieces to try and raise some more much-needed money and some equally needed hope.
Hope and support for the refugees of this latest atrocity in humanity’s fragile hold on the planet, the illegal, and barbaric invasion of Ukraine by Russia and its subsequent war which has, as war always does, yet again, brought misery to millions.
We write because we know we can make a difference.'
Please write in for a copy of the book to the publisher (davidlewis@brynstowe.co.uk) and all that is being asked for is a donation (a suggested £10 if you can afford it) to 'Hoggy's Fund' in support of artists, writers and musicians in Ukraine. The publisher will send you bank details when you request a copy.
With very best wishes and thanks, Hoggy,
Bill Petherick
Dear Bill,
Thank you for this timely letter and I couldn't have put it better myself!
We are really looking forward to seeing the booklet and hope it will raise as much money as possible for the cause; to help save even a few of Ukraine's artists and writers for the future is a very noble undertaking and Victoriuz Bonner's letter explains the importance so well in today's letters.
I re-attach the cover image sent by the publisher a few days ago.
Thanks Bill. We will of course be hugely supporting this work from here and have already ordered twenty copies and will certainly need more.
Hoggy.
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