By: Jaden Sun

When you think of the invasion of Ukraine, you sympathize with the Ukrainians and paint the Russians as bad guys. I’m here to show you how Russians also suffer from the war.

First, we have a 24-year-old stone worker by the name of Yevgeny Chubarin. When Yevgeny Chubarin told his mother he was joining the Russian army to fight against Ukraine, she cried and begged him not to go. But his urge to fight for his land shone through. Armed with his AK-47, he packed up and went to the front lines. The next day, he was shot and killed. This story shows how Russian nationalism can affect families. The younger people want to fight for their country, and the next day, their lives are lost fighting a brutal war.

Stories like the young Yevgeny Chubarin are considered taboo and are hidden by the government to keep spirits up. However, some stories like this next one made it past the curtain, or should I say an iron curtain.

Vladimir Krot, a 59-year-old retired veteran begged to be a pilot on the front lines, days later he was shot down in a training mission. Leaving behind his wife and his 8-year-old daughter. “Oh god, please stop this war. How many of our guys can die?” a woman named Yevgenia Yakovleva wrote. “My soul is torn from pain. I don’t know how to accept this, survive and live with it”