* * *
when there is no longer
haste
and desire to
count
report
and summarize
for seventy-two
mornings days twilights nights
tanks
modernized or
ramstein-blessed
moving around the side or rather on the flank
and the black zaporozhtsi from bila tserkva
kyiv against moscow
not only did it defend but it also
inspired
victories and daily battles
fifteen tanks per day
forty afv-s per day
msta and gvozdika- six per day
two reactive systems per day too
four orlanss – or smaller birds
two choppers fortified with alligators
two and a half su-s
one damn kalibr or one thrice-damned iskander
one key to the sky and
one tenth of a ship
everything stands behind him
for hundreds of millions for hundreds of millions
for hundreds of millions per day
…
the second week
of spring-like warmth
already the mower
buzzes
with colourful greenery
a soldier
an ordinary ukrainian soldier
trims the grass
…
the day will come
Lviv. 6.V.2022, 08:45-09:35
Glossary of weapons mentioned in poem and Note
afv – armoured fighting vehicle, such as IFVs, BMDs, APCs
gvozdika, msta – Soviet self-propelled howitzers
orlan – Russian drone
alligator – Russian Kamov Ka-52 ‘Alligator’
su – Soviet Sukhoi Su-25 fighter aircraft
kalibr, iskander – Russian missiles
Note: The 72nd Black Zaporozhtsi Separate Mechanized Brigade is garrisoned in Bila Tserkva, Kyiv Region. It is one of the strongest formations of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
As of 72 days of national resistance, daily military losses suffered by the Russian Armed Forces (calculated by dividing total losses by the duration of this phase (number of days):
afv-s , such as IFVs, BMDs, APCs;
artillery – self-propelled howitzers 2S19 Msta-S, 2S1 Gvozdika-S;
reactive artillery – MLRS;
reconnaissance systems – Orlan-10 UAV, birds – popular term in Ukraine for UAVs;
choppers – helicopters, in particular Ka-52 ‘Alligator’;
aircraft – Su-24, Su-25, Su-30, Su-34, Su-35 fighter jets;
cruise missiles – Kalibr, ballistic missiles – Iskander;
key to the sky – air defense systems, one tenth of a ship.
* * *
there are days
there are days
there are days
which I want to talk about
which are worth talking about
which will be remembered
there are days
there are days
there are days
when it’s easier to say:
there are no more days
there’s no day
no more light
no more sunshine
saint george defeated the dragon
from the first irmos to the last
from the first breath to the last
demyd the warrior lived for ukraine
he lived in the light twenty plus years
as we sing the psalm to his angel today
Lviv. 6.V.2022, 15:17-23:38
* * *
seventy… glory
to the month of april – proclaimed the kobzar –
let us sing the whole psalm!
Lviv. 7.V.2022, 15:52
***
Tale of the “russian warship”
This will be the usual story
About the legendary to the bone city of Sevastopol.
…A real sailor from the russian navy
Sprayed anger and bile in my face:
– No way your ‘rustbuckets’ can compete with our ships. –
You’re not meant to sail the seas, but rather to swim in poop…
With a tryzub on your cockade, you’ll hear some words in the harbour,
Which have only one answer: ‘Glory to the heroes!’
And – anti-ship missiles dealt a double blow
To the flagship, which was not saved by other dubious relics:
This one – into the deep sea, and Vilkhas and Bayraktars – into the land.
And cancel ‘russian power’ with an Ukrposhta stamp.
Lviv. 23.V.2022, 18:30-19:10.
Volodymyr Tymchuk, born in Zakarpattia in 1979, is a Ukrainian writer and lieutenant colonel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine who participated in the Russian-Ukrainian war. He is also a senior teacher at the Hetman Petro Sahaidachnyi National Army Academy and a Candidate in Technical Sciences. He is the author of “To Burn and Fire, to Outlive and Overcome!” (2016), “Verlaine and Song” (2017), “Opus of Pace” (2018), “Azov … Crossed” (2020), and other books, and manager of the “World Poetry Day For Ukraine” project in 2022. He has been awarded the Bohdan Khmelnytskyi Prize for the best coverage of military themes in literature and art, the Markiyan Shashkevych Regional Prize in the poetry category, and other literary awards.
