<
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/13/the-invisible-ukrainian-who-walked-225km-to-safety-from-mariupol>
"The aim was to be the invisible man, says Igor Pedin, 61. It was to drift, as
if a ghost, with his small trolley bag of supplies and dog Zhu-Zhu, a
nine-year-old mongrel terrier, through the hellscape of the besieged port city
of Mariupol, out into the badlands of Russian-occupied territories and on to
the relative safety of the Ukrainian-held city of Zaporizhzhia – a mere 225km
walk away.
The equivalent of walking by foot from London to Sheffield but through a war
unseen in its scale in Europe since 1945 and towards the oncoming convoys of
tanks, armoured vehicles and nervous trigger-happy Russian soldiers racing
towards Mariupol; it meant sidestepping mines and crossing destroyed bridges
with his dog and luggage, where an erring step would lead to a 30ft drop to
certain death; he would have to pass the smouldering homes and weeping men and
women with their heartbreaking stories of death and suffering and their loss of
will to live on.
Pedin, a former ship’s cook, could not have known any of this – and he did not
prove to be invisible, he concedes, as he recounts his tale in the safety of
the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv."
Via Garry Knight.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
