In Petro’s memory of Ukrainian New York, morning began before the light. The sky was turning grey, but the soldiers were already awake and at their positions. His description brings readers into the beginning of a day when even the first moments of daylight belonged to the fighting.
The morning began as it always did, before dawn, when the sky was only just starting to turn grey over our positions. My brothers-in-arms and I would fire towards the enemy: two magazines each from our AKM rifles, and box after box from the DShK heavy machine gun. That was how we “woke them up” every morning. It was our ritual, our habit, our way of saying: we are here, we are awake, we are holding this ground.
From Petro’s personal account of a day in Ukrainian New York, February 2022.
What a morning routine can carry
The passage is striking because of the way Petro calls this a ritual. Repetition gave the day a recognisable beginning, even in circumstances where nobody could know how it would end. The routine was shared with the men beside him; the memory is full of the word “we.”
For a reader far from the front, dawn may suggest quiet streets or a kettle coming to the boil. Here, it marks the return of responsibility. Being awake meant being present, watching, and continuing to hold a position alongside others.
There is no need to invent a dramatic speech around this scene. Petro’s own description already conveys its meaning: people beginning another day together, before they knew what that day would ask of them. His broader story offers a way to meet the person behind this memory.
Read Petro’s story and find ways to help on the homepage. You can also share his homepage with others.
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