CONFLICT (UKRAINE)
Any open, armed conflict between two or more nations or states – normally results in broken lives and destroyed towns and cities. Those directly involved as combatants experience physical or mental injury – but the larger populace – be they young or old – are unavoidably drawn into contact with the ‘side effects’ of a war.
These effects can include rumour – that corrodes one’s well being – enforced confinement, displacement or evacuation – along with the erasure of normality.
They also bring with them the imposition of curfew, recruitment or rationing – propaganda and the editing of reality – a fog of apprehension or misunderstanding that breeds prejudice towards not only the enemy but others, who may also have been caught up within the spread of conflict and become refugees.
Ukraine is currently learning to live with such a situation and also, in some areas, having to respond to the demands of an invading state that seeks to ‘free’, indoctrinate and ‘re-educate’.
Such tactics are used in order to erode ‘identity’ – to help enforce a change in the established social and cultural systems – to overcome any ‘silent’ resistance and enforce ‘acceptance’.
















For those engaged in conflict - the relentless lack of food overshadows even physical abuse – in it’s psychological impact.
‘After they take it (the pink tablets) they feel a surge of energy, they no longer feel cold, fear or pain. This allows them to act like machines.’
‘They were sending wave after wave, throwing people in like meat’.
‘Of course they kill their own people. It’s normal’.
The war in Ukraine is increasingly being shaped by technology that operates far from the front lines – drones now amount for 70/80% of those wounded or killed.
For those who stay (citizens) even a misplaced word, a misunderstood gesture or a refusal to cooperate can lead to arrest, torture or death.
‘Orders are given in a state of severe alcohol intoxication, without the slightest understanding of the real situation’.
Fresh graves lie between houses where locals have buried neighbors in a hurry – under the constant threat of enemy attack.
‘Soldiers cloaked themselves in vegetation as they struggled to flee’.
The war could be a breeding ground for diseases that spread very quickly – including the deadly ‘hantavirus’ which
is spread by mice and causes bleeding from the eyes and kidney failure.
‘They joke about the wounded – as they treat them -because a distraction from pain is necessary’.
‘Years of torture leaves deep physical and psychological scars’.







Drones are now taking on a growing role within any area of conflict – changing how battles are planned and fought – and have formed an increasingly vital aspect of any war.
They (drones) have turned the front lines of Ukraine into fast expanding ‘Kill Zones’ – that stretch for miles – and create landscapes where any soldier – caught in the open – faces certain death.