- Title: Grieving Ukrainians pay for ‘revenge’ messages on army shells
- Date: 25th August 2022
- Summary: KYIV REGION, UKRAINE (AUGUST 8, 2022) (REUTERS) RUBBLE AND DAMAGED BUILDING HIT IN A RUSSIAN STRIKE IN EARLY MARCH RUBBLE OF PALAMARCHUK'S FAMILY HOUSE PALAMARCHUK WALKING TO THE PROPERTY DAMAGED HOUSE AND DEBRIS ON THE GROUND PALAMARCHUK UNLOCKING THE ENTRANCE GATE AND WALKING ON DEBRIS (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) UKRAINIAN CITIZEN, IRYNA PALAMARCHUK, WHOSE HOUSES WERE FLATTENED IN A RUSSIAN STRIKE, SAYING: "I feel neither anger nor resentment. I myself can’t understand what is going on in my soul. These people (Russians) are dead to me. I just know for a fact there won't be any of them up until the 20th generation in my family. No Russians, not as guests, never. I will pass this (feeling) on. Not because we lost our property, but because of the evil they (Russians) brought to me, to my land. I will pass this (feeling) onto my grandchildren and great-grandchildren, on to the next generations, so that these Russians will never enter our country again (voice breaking)."
- Embargoed: 8th September 2022 12:39
- Keywords: Charity Russian invasion Ukraine war
- Location: KYIV, KYIV REGION, UNDISLOSED LOCATION, UKRAINE
- City: KYIV, KYIV REGION, UNDISLOSED LOCATION, UKRAINE
- Country: Ukraine
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Europe,Military Conflicts
- Reuters ID: LVA002051725082022RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: When Russian forces bombed Iryna Palamarchuk's property in early March, both her family house and the home she built herself in 2020 were brought to the ground. Five months on, she is still struggling to cope with emotions.
"This is not even anger or resentment. I even can’t understand what is going on in my soul," she said as she walked through the site of her flattened homes where she raised her daughter.
"These people (Russians) are dead to me," Iryna, who was born to a Russian mother, said, adding that she felt surprisingly happy after her daughter donated to a crowdfunding group that allows donors to have personalized messages written on artillery shells used by the Ukrainian army.
"I am a very kind person... But I am happy that in such a way this projectile showed them my pain and my hatred towards them," Palamchuk said.
The Palamchuk family is among thousands of people who donated to the local crowdfunding website that raises money for the Ukrainian army by selling personalized messages on the shells. Support for such crowdfunding groups has recently grown, particularly among Ukrainians who are mourning for their loss.
"This is quite a personal signature," Yuliana Romaniv said, who lost her uncle Andriy in the war. Video sent to her by the crowdfunding website Revengefor showed Ukrainian soldiers shouting: 'For uncle Andriy" before firing from an undisclosed position.
"You feel powerless. I do what I can," said Romaniv as she explained how difficult it was to deal with the loss of her favorite uncle.
"We got an order: 'For my furry friend Mr. Kotovski'. On one hand, it sounds funny, but on the other – you understand there is a certain story behind it when people want to take revenge for a pet.," said Ihor Repeta, the software developer for one of the crowdfunding websites, Revengefor.
The group has so far collected 67,420 USD for the Ukrainian army by offering the chance to deliver a message on bombs and missiles before they are fired.
When asked whether this was an appropriate way to crowdfund for weapons, Revengefor creator Oleksandr Arhat said they were not "raising money for crime".
"Whoever considers it unfair, could just not donate."
There are at least two other crowdfunding groups campaigning to support the Ukrainian army, offering donors to write private messages on artillery items.
As Ukraine marked six months of the war with Russia, the invasion has caused thousands of deaths, forced over a third of Ukraine's 41 million people from their homes, and destroyed whole cities, the conflict is largely locked in a stalemate.
Russia has repeatedly denied its forces are aiming at civilian targets. On Wednesday (August 24), Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu told a meeting in Uzbekistan that Moscow had deliberately slowed what it calls a "special military operation" in Ukraine to avoid civilian casualties.
(Production: Andrii Pryimachenko, Ivan Lyubysh-Kirdey, Anna Voitenko, Yesim Dikmen) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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