COST OF WAR
FEISTY gran Alla Drozd despises tyrant Vladimir Putin for invading Ukraine – and for cutting off her water supply.
She is one of thousands whose taps ran dry after Russian troops blew up the Nova Kakhovka dam last month and she now endures a daily trip to a temporary 5,000-litre tank to fill a milk churn.
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And as 76-year-old Alla’s country marks 500 days of war today, she couldn’t hide her anger at the Russian despot who ordered the invasion.
She said: “I hate Putin for what he has done to my country.
“And I hate him for making me have to collect water every day at my age.
“But Ukrainian women are strong, whether it is on the front line or running the home. And our children are strong and our men are strong.
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“Together, we are too strong for Russia to win.”
Alla summed up the unbreakable spirit of the country as it passes the grim anniversary.
The conflict has had a devastating toll, with 78 per cent of the population of around 30million having a relative or friend killed in the war and 6.3million still classed as refugees.
The economy plunged by nearly a third last year, with inflation rocketing to 30 per cent, pushing seven million into poverty.
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FALLEN HEROES
But Ukraine has shown remarkable resilience — the economy is bouncing back and is on target for a modest rise this year, while support for the war remains undiminished.
The Sun criss-crossed the vast country to gauge the mood of the nation in the run-up to today’s anniversary of the invasion.
And we found a country that was battered and bruised — but unbowed.
Even the families of those who have paid the ultimate price are still standing strong and are determined to fly the flag — literally so in the military cemetery in Lviv.
When I reported from Ukraine in the first weeks of the war last year, the land next to the city’s graveyard was a scruffy patch of grassland.
Now it is gradually filling up with the graves of fallen heroes — around 300 are arranged in neat lines and a new one appears every few days.
Among them is sniper Oleg Hrystenko, 21, who stepped on a mine last month near Bakhmut.
His girlfriend Valeriia Kovlenko and his mother Olena now tend his grave daily.
As the sea of flags fluttered in the warm summer breeze, Valeriia, 24, said: “I heard after he had died that when he got his next month’s wage he was going to propose to me.
“It has been really hard to cope and I still get upset all of the time, but coming to his grave helps. It’s always sad when we see a new grave but the flags give people comfort and strength.
“They remind people that Ukraine is strong and will never be beaten.”
In the capital, Kyiv, volunteer Ruslan Karavauskiy works hard making sure there are as many flags out there as possible.
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The 37-year-old wears one himself around his shoulders while selling others to the public and said: “I will not take the flag off until the day that victory is declared.”
Construction boss Ivan — who couldn’t give his surname for security reasons — has a grimmer job.
He is in charge of rebuilding the apartment block that was devastated in the most recent attack on a civilian target in Kyiv.
Five people died when a cruise missile wiped out three floors of the 22-storey block two weeks ago.
Hundreds had to be evacuated from 125 apartments, with no idea when they can return home.
Ivan, 33, said: “We will rebuild but it will take time.
“Putin can hit us like this but he will never knock us down.
“Every time this happens, we rebuild and move on.”
Everyone you meet in Ukraine is keen to talk about how the country is coping and to express their belief in ultimate victory — or almost everyone.
As we spoke to Ivan, residents were collecting belongings that crane operators had reclaimed through the gaping exterior walls of the worst affected flats in the block.
One dazed woman wandered past, too upset to talk as she sobbed: “I have no apartment left.”
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In the north of the country, Sergii Savenko and his best friend Ploskii Mykola, 54, have long since grown accustomed to the way the war has turned their lives upside down.
They are married to two sisters who both left for the safety of the Czech Republic with their kids when the conflict began.
They fled as invading troops passed within a few hundred yards of their homes on the way to the historic city of Chernihiv, which was left devastated after a month-long siege.
Security guard Sergii, 59, said: “We haven’t seen our families since they left, apart from on Zoom.
“It is hard but at least we know they are safe. When will they return? Who knows?”
Four hundred miles south, in the city of Zaporizhzhia, mum of three Katerina Amdrash faces a daily battle keeping life normal for her kids.
Besides the stress of living in a war zone, locals have the added worry of a Chernobyl-style meltdown at the nearby nuclear power plant which the Russians now use as a military base.
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Ukrainian intelligence sources say Russian troops have placed objects resembling explosives on the roof.
Katerina, 33, a nursery nurse before the invasion, said: “It is hard to think that the war has been going on for 500 days.
“It is such a long time but then a lot has happened. We had to leave our home because the area was occupied by Russians and we came here for safety, but now live with the worry of a nuclear disaster.
“We have bags packed and food parcels arranged and are ready to go if that does happen.
“But I also try to make life as normal as possible for the children.
“I am confident we will win, but nobody knows when. I pray it doesn’t take another 500 days.”
As she spoke, her kids splashed in a fountain beneath a huge blue and yellow Ukrainian flag draped across the city hall.
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The outpouring of patriotism is everywhere — every town and village is adorned with flags, garages sell screen wash in blue or yellow and glasses have been produced that glow blue when filled with yellow lager.
Yuliouno Aboliesheva, 18, proudly showed off her blue and yellow phone case as she visited a display of wrecked Russian tanks in Kyiv.
She said: “Right now we are the most patriotic country in the world.”
In the village of Zoria, not far from the occupied nuclear plant, the women from every household visit the temporary bowser that has been installed to supply water each day.
We help grandma Alla haul her heavy load back to her house on a home-made trolley.
Once there, she insists on inviting us in for a drink of goat’s milk, supplied that morning by her pet, Manyena.
Minutes later her phone rings. Word has spread that she has visitors, and the village leader wants to know who we are and to check that Alla is OK.
She reassures the leader she is fine and rings off, telling us: “That spirit of looking after each other is everywhere in Ukraine.
“That is why Putin cannot win.”
Brits will back defeat on Putin
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By James Heappy, Armed Forces Minister
FIVE hundred days ago Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine – a further unprovoked attack on the peaceful neighbour it had been illegally occupying since 2014.
President Putin imagined his “special operation” would finish the job in just five days.
He was wrong, and 500 days later the grit and guts of Ukrainian fighters are not just holding off Russia’s invasion force, but pushing them back to their own borders.
No one can say for sure how long that will take, but I do know for certain that Ukraine can and will win this war.
The Ukrainian people and their government have the resolve to fight until every last soldier has left their soil.
I suspect Putin knows that too, but he also thinks that the international donor community supporting Ukraine with weapons, ammunition and training will get distracted and start to withdraw their support.
Next week at Vilnius the Prime Minister will remind friends and allies from across Nato that while we must of course think about a safe and prosperous future for Ukraine, we must also keep them in the fight tonight, and tomorrow, and every day until they win.
The UK will continue to lead the world in donating those capabilities that will see Ukraine succeed, both drawing from the existing inventories of our Armed Forces but increasingly the ingenuity and growing capacity of British industry.
Indeed, one of the many lessons we have learned over the past 500 days is that if we share some of our intelligence, a bit of defence science and some military ingenuity with the most innovative British companies, they can quickly produce mind-boggling capabilities that are proving battle-winning in Ukraine.
In the Defence Command Paper – which will be published shortly after the Nato summit – we will set out how all of that amazing British science and technology can also be quickly introduced to our own Armed Forces.
We will apply all the lessons we have learned about the need for bigger stockpiles, and the importance on the modern battlefield that there are not just brave people ready to fight in close quarters with the enemy, but also the engineers and technicians who can integrate cutting-edge technologies that have given the Ukrainians – and in the future, us – the decisive edge.
Like everybody else, I don’t want to see this war take another 500 days, but if it must take that long – or even longer – to bring victory for Ukraine, then I know the British people will want us to continue our support.
In the meantime, Putin must realise that with every day he fights on, his own forces get weaker while the Ukrainians get stronger.
And because we are all eagerly learning the lessons that are coming from Ukraine, the Armed Forces across Nato are getting ever stronger too.
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Together we are bolstering the Alliance, welcoming new members and investing in new capabilities.
We are standing up to Putin alongside Ukraine and are firm in the defence of our shared values and security.
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