By: Amy Xu

After almost five months, the war between Russia and Ukraine hasn’t ended. Families from both sides worry about their sons and daughters. When 24-year-old Yevgeny Chubarin told his mother that he joinednthe Russian army to fight Ukraine, she desperately begged him not to leave. However, he still left with an AK-47 in hand and a strong sense of patriotism on May 15. Chubarin died the next day.

Sadly, stories like Chubarin aren’t uncommon and are often ignored by the country’s “triumphant bombast of social media” (Dixon). Russia describes the war as a struggle for survival against NATO and retrieving back their land.

However, sometimes these stories slip out of Russia’s portrayal of war. Vladimir Krot, a 59-year-old Soviet-trained pilot, pleaded with the Ukraine army to draft him. After months of rejections and growing casualties, he finally got accepted. Unfortunately, his dedication to the Ukraine army lasted only a few days. During training, his SU-25 jet dropped from the sky and crashed onto Southern Russian land. His wife and 8-year-old daughter grieved for him.

The statistics of dead soldiers in the war have been kept secret. Although it is a crime to criticize the military, independent journalists question why mourning families are being hidden from the public. According to authorities, “tears and suffering” portray Russia as weak.

Despite the authorities’ efforts to cover up the complaints of bereaved relatives, their protests still can be found everywhere. In Buryatia, a group of Russian soldier wives created a video in June to protest against the war.

“Oh god, please stop this war. How many of our guys can die?” a woman named Yevgenia Yakovleva said online. “My soul is torn from pain. I don’t know how to accept this, survive and live with it.”