The Soldier by Sofia Kekukh

A soldier was travelling

by an Ukrzaliznytsia train from Lviv to Kyiv. He is a young, handsome guy, aged about 25 years old. Dressed in full military uniform, from his funny hat to his boots. And he had his huge backpack. His clothes were spotted with pixels of dark green and dark yellow. 

It is a very special colour for Ukrainians now. Even though it was spotless, it has become a Ukrainian National symbol now. Pixels of bravery. We are protected by them.

A mix of dark green and dark yellow, reminding khaki, is a colour of the military uniform of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

You can see them displayed in our war-torn reality in the patterns of our military camo and our DNA. They are embodied in our robust resistance. All of these smallest units are on the daily uniform of our soldiers. War. This colour remind us about the price of it. But we only see people, our people, our heroes who wear camouflage uniforms. A naked body and sincere soul are under this khaki camo.

I don’t know anything about this soldier. I was too shy to say, “Thank you for what you do now”. Instead of this, we offered some food to him. But he politely rejected it by saying that his backpack is full of it. 

A young soldier was reading a small black book War: How to Survive the Reality.

My eyes were full of tears. His eyes were so kind and sincere. 

I am saying thanks to him in this story. Hope I will be braver to say thanks to the next soldier I randomly meet in my life.