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The lonely funeral of a young soldier in Ukraine

Rogue Valley

Lead or get out of the way
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The lonely funeral of a young soldier in Ukraine

AAVitHy.img

Vadym Yarovenko attended the funeral of his friend Dmytro Kotenko in Lviv, buried far from his hometown of Sumy. He was 21.

3.20.22
There was no family around Dmytro Kotenko when they put him in the ground. His parents did not hear the gunshots that rang out over his grave. They did not hear the sound of the ribbon tied to the wooden cross above him as it fluttered in the wind. They did not see the rough earth that first landed on his coffin and they did not lay a flower over him when he was completely covered by the earth. Most likely, Kotenko's parents did not know their son was being buried that day in the Lychakiv Cemetery in Lviv. They were 600 miles away, with his two younger brothers, near the eastern city of Sumy, which was being so heavily shelled by Russian forces that it was cut off from the outside world. Kotenko's parents did know that their son was dead. He died on 26 February, the third day of the Russian invasion, near to the southern city of Kherson. It was his first operation. He was 21. Two days after his death, his parents received a call from his childhood friend Vadym Yarovenko, an artillery soldier, who broke the news. It had taken Yarovenko all night to work up the courage to make the call — a long and restless night on his army bunk in Lviv, alone with the knowledge that Kotenko was gone. They were just boys when they met, all of 15 years old, with fresh haircuts and new uniforms for their first day at military school. When they discovered they were from adjacent villages, it was the beginning of a friendship that might have lasted for a lifetime.

Yarovenko wanted to join an artillery unit but Kotenko's dream was to be a paratrooper. After two years at the academy they were separated — Yarovenko to the western city of Lviv to train for artillery and Kotenko to the southern city of Odesa to train to be a paratrooper. "We messaged each other every day," Yarovenko said. On 26 February, Kotenko stopped responding, and Yarovenko feared the worst. Eventually he reached the commander of Kotenko's unit by phone, who told him his friend had been killed by a mortar shell. "I don't have all the details yet," Yarovenko said. "There was shelling, there was an explosion, Dmytro died." When he dialled the number for Kotenko's parents, there was still a phone connection, and in a short conversation he told them that their son was gone. When he tried to call later about the funeral, the aerial bombardment of Sumy had worsened and the line would not connect. He kept trying but the line stayed dead. So Kotenko's body was brought to Lviv and buried there without them, because the city was safe from falling shells. Kotenko was buried alongside Kyrylo Moroz Volodymyrovych, 25, a paratrooper from his unit, who could also not be taken home. They were laid to rest in a far corner of the cemetery, among the dead from the first and second world wars and the war with Russian-backed forces in Donbas. As Kotenko's coffin was lowered, Yarovenko stood to one side, behind the honour guard that fired the guns. It was the saddest thing he had ever experienced. "I watched my friend being buried far from his home," he said. Afterwards, he stood silently, looking at the grave, the sole mourner left, alone with the gravediggers as they cleared away their tools.


RIP/Slava Ukrayini.
 
OK.
Thats a damn shame, didnt know the fella tho and really cant spend much time thinking about it.
War is bad, people get killed 'n junk. Stuff gets destroyed. Yeahhhhhh.

Right now I'm just concentrating on what I've got on my own plate. Getting ready to get on my stationary bike. Thats always grueling. Got some tedious work to tend to today. Gonna eat up a good chunk of my day. Got a couple doctors appointments this week. Been a rough winter, lost several people to covid.

I cant really think of any good reason at all to sit here and worry about some minor military incursion halfway around the world. Just doesnt affect me or concern me. I have more than enough problems, dont need to go looking for some in another hemisphere.

The Universe has got this. All is well IMO. (y)
 
OK.
Thats a damn shame, didnt know the fella tho and really cant spend much time thinking about it.
War is bad, people get killed 'n junk. Stuff gets destroyed. Yeahhhhhh.

Right now I'm just concentrating on what I've got on my own plate. Getting ready to get on my stationary bike. Thats always grueling. Got some tedious work to tend to today. Gonna eat up a good chunk of my day. Got a couple doctors appointments this week. Been a rough winter, lost several people to covid.

I cant really think of any good reason at all to sit here and worry about some minor military incursion halfway around the world. Just doesnt affect me or concern me. I have more than enough problems, dont need to go looking for some in another hemisphere.

The Universe has got this. All is well IMO. (y)
Not me, I got to be focusing my sights on the battlefield, to kill, this soldier standing there of I'll find my subtle bodies saying, "Oh, let them fight their war, the Russians have their reasons,... etc." I'll find them chanting with the Putin supporters.
 
Not me, I got to be focusing my sights on the battlefield, to kill, thiis soldier standing there of I'll find my subtle bodies saying, "Oh, let them fight their war, the Russians have their reasons,... etc." I'll find them chanting with the Putin supporters.

Was that supposed to be a coherent response?:oops:
 
OK.
Thats a damn shame, didnt know the fella tho and really cant spend much time thinking about it.
War is bad, people get killed 'n junk. Stuff gets destroyed. Yeahhhhhh.

Right now I'm just concentrating on what I've got on my own plate. Getting ready to get on my stationary bike. Thats always grueling. Got some tedious work to tend to today. Gonna eat up a good chunk of my day. Got a couple doctors appointments this week. Been a rough winter, lost several people to covid.

I cant really think of any good reason at all to sit here and worry about some minor military incursion halfway around the world. Just doesnt affect me or concern me. I have more than enough problems, dont need to go looking for some in another hemisphere.

The Universe has got this. All is well IMO. (y)

You have such a tough life.

Jesus Christ what a cupcake.
 
You have such a tough life.

Jesus Christ what a cupcake.

I've taken my lumps and probably been through more hard times than most. The vast majority of that self inflicted of course, thats how it usually is.

Now I like to K.I.S.S. if you know what that means.

There is absolutely no benefit to me at all to wring my hands and fret over some minor military incursion halfway around the world.

I keep explaining this extremely basic POV to folks, and many seem to not be able to grasp it.
The way to make the world better is to make myself better, and to worry about my own actions and words, and worry about those things around me that are in my control or under my influence.

Pretending that I care about Ukraine is not a good use of my time. I do wish them well and its a damn shame that people are suffering. But thats through no doing of mine, and in fact there isnt a darn thing I can do about any of that. They'll have to worry about their own destinies the same way I have had to worry about mine. My government sees fit to send aid which I support wholeheartedly, and weapons (which I have more ambivalent feelings about, the US and its exportation of weapons and death has probably created far more problems than its erased IMO), and THATS THAT.

No point in wasting my emotional energy on any of that. I have learned my lesson over decades re: becoming embroiled and emotionally involved over things that are beyond my control.
 
The lonely funeral of a young soldier in Ukraine

AAVitHy.img

Vadym Yarovenko attended the funeral of his friend Dmytro Kotenko in Lviv, buried far from his hometown of Sumy. He was 21.




RIP/Slava Ukrayini.


These are the people who you wanted to fight your proxy war and now you propagandize over their passing?

You are a vile hawk who now uses the dead so as to ensure that many more share the same fate.

How more people haven't seen through you with this yearning for death and destruction now going on for a full 8 years + is beyond me.
 
:rolleyes:

And yet you create a word saled post to tell us you're the cool kid, too cool to worry about a war halfway around the world.

btw... what ever happened to your "white European superiority" ideology?

Still preaching that racism or did you take too much grief because of it?
 
These are the people who you wanted to fight your proxy war and now you propagandize over their passing?

You are a vile hawk who now uses the dead so as to ensure that many more share the same fate.

How more people haven't seen through you with this yearning for death and destruction now going on for a full 8 years + is beyond me.

There is one and only one person ultimately responsible for those deaths, no matter how often you ignore that fact.
 
Well, you can take it as insane, or as what it is like in the life of a mystic, madman.

I'm insane, driven to rage, I just want to kill, this is a good constructive outlet.

I killed Putin, earlier today, I think it was, but he's hard to keep on, I got to see those sights trained, the whole world wants to distract you, and you find you've been going with Putin as Jesus Christ.

Those Russians have that blasted Kursk to thank.
 
There is one and only one person ultimately responsible for those deaths, no matter how often you ignore that fact.

Unrelated to what I posted.

He knows I am right on this and that's why he doesn't respond to it.

Propagandizing peoples deaths in a war you wanted them to fight and die in is sick.twisted/macabre.

And, if you are the empathe you present yourself as, you would be agreeing with me. Instead you change the subject, telling.
 
OK.
Thats a damn shame, didnt know the fella tho and really cant spend much time thinking about it.
War is bad, people get killed 'n junk. Stuff gets destroyed. Yeahhhhhh.

Right now I'm just concentrating on what I've got on my own plate. Getting ready to get on my stationary bike. Thats always grueling. Got some tedious work to tend to today. Gonna eat up a good chunk of my day. Got a couple doctors appointments this week. Been a rough winter, lost several people to covid.

I cant really think of any good reason at all to sit here and worry about some minor military incursion halfway around the world. Just doesnt affect me or concern me. I have more than enough problems, dont need to go looking for some in another hemisphere.

The Universe has got this. All is well IMO. (y)

This is a DISCUSSION FORUM and items like this thread are appropriate, just as it is appropriate to spend time commiserating with those who are the victims of the brutal invasion by an evil madman.
You know what is not necessarily appropriate? Making us listen to your whining about your personal problems, and also your hateful dismissal of the situation in Ukraine without actual serious discussion.
If you don’t have something relevant to say about the topic, per se, then STFU so that we don’t have to listen to your hateful whining and your personal life. Nobody cares. What do you not understand about that? This is a DISCUSSION FORUM! If you don’t want to discuss, then GFY..
 
Unrelated to what I posted.

He knows I am right on this and that's why he doesn't respond to it.

Propagandizing peoples deaths in a war you wanted them to fight and die in is sick.twisted/macabre.

And, if you are the empathe you present yourself as, you would be agreeing with me. Instead you change the subject, telling.

It was EXACTLY appropriate regards your quite hateful post, which is full of outright lies, as usual. And you, of all people, complaining that someone else is posting “unrelated” info is the absolute height of hypocrisy and double-standard.
 
It was EXACTLY appropriate regards your quite hateful post, which is full of outright lies, as usual. And you, of all people, complaining that someone else is posting “unrelated” info is the absolute height of hypocrisy and double-standard.

My assertion is supported by the evidence, your assertions are speculative nonsense and name calling, big difference
 
My assertion is supported by the evidence, your assertions are speculative nonsense and name calling, big difference

Show the “evidence”. All you have EVER do d is to post unsubstantiated and hateful lies. And accusing OTHERS of name calling. That’s ironically HILARIOUS!
 
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This is a DISCUSSION FORUM and items like this thread are appropriate, just as it is appropriate to spend time commiserating with those who are the victims of the brutal invasion by an evil madman.

Knock yourself out Fella.
Didnt say it wasnt appropriate, just said that its outside my sphere of influence and therefore I cant really worry myself with it. Not my problem. I'm tired of Americans pretending that they care about people in Ukraine.

You know what is not necessarily appropriate? Making us listen to your whining about your personal problems,

Meh. You're free to ignore anything I say.
and also your hateful dismissal of the situation in Ukraine without actual serious discussion.

There is no "hateful dismissal"....merely an indifferent dismissal. There is a difference, suggest you learn it.

"Serious discussion", well war sucks. Its "hell" I believe is the adage. Not much more I can say about it.
If you don’t have something relevant to say about the topic, per se, then STFU so that we don’t have to listen to your hateful whining and your personal life.

Everything I have said is "relevant", I dont live in Ukraine or even on that continent, and their affairs over there do not greatly concern or interest me at this time.

so that we don’t have to listen to your hateful whining and your personal life.

I already said that you dont "have" to do anything, you can simply ignore it.

You are lashing out in anger. Anger is not good imo.
 
And yet you create a word saled post to tell us you're the cool kid, too cool to worry about a war halfway around the world.

I am flattered that you see me as "cool". Not trying to be. But thank you.
btw... what ever happened to your "white European superiority" ideology?

I am proud of my European White Male heritage. No reason why I shouldn't be. Its good to be proud of your ethnicity, I've learned this. My people and I have accomplished a lot. Nothing to be ashamed of.
Still preaching that racism

There is no "racism".

or did you take too much grief because of it?

Didnt take any "grief" at all that I recall. But thank you for your concern.
 
Well, you can take it as insane, or as what it is like in the life of a mystic, madman.

I'm insane, driven to rage, I just want to kill, this is a good constructive outlet.

I killed Putin, earlier today, I think it was, but he's hard to keep on, I got to see those sights trained, the whole world wants to distract you, and you find you've been going with Putin as Jesus Christ.

Those Russians have that blasted Kursk to thank.

I still dont fully understand*
 
Knock yourself out Fella.
Didnt say it wasnt appropriate, just said that its outside my sphere of influence and therefore I cant really worry myself with it. Not my problem. I'm tired of Americans pretending that they care about people in Ukraine.



Meh. You're free to ignore anything I say.


There is no "hateful dismissal"....merely an indifferent dismissal. There is a difference, suggest you learn it.

"Serious discussion", well war sucks. Its "hell" I believe is the adage. Not much more I can say about it.


Everything I have said is "relevant", I dont live in Ukraine or even on that continent, and their affairs over there do not greatly concern or interest me at this time.



I already said that you dont "have" to do anything, you can simply ignore it.

You are lashing out in anger. Anger is not good imo.

Again, we don’t care about your personal problems and would prefer that you keep your whining to yourself. Some people are actually concerned about living through the day because of the brutal assault of the army of the evil madman Putin, so we just flat don’t care if you are going to ride your stationary bike or have medical appointments. Again, please keep your whining to yourself.
 
Show the “evidence”. All you have EVER do d is to post unsubstantiated and hateful lies. And accusing OTHERS of name calling. That’s ironically HILARIOUS!

You only need to read his posts . Cheering any dead Russian citings. Dancing on the bodies of dead Ukrainians for properganda purposes, like this thread

But I will show you how long I have been noticing this......


From one thread alone a few years back

A thread where a US ship is trying to provoke a response from the Russian navy. RV is practically drooling over the thought of a possible conflict.

US makes preparations to sail warship into Black Sea amid Russia-Ukraine tensions

1e27ceef-9ea1-4340-a669-a71677ed4a36-USS_STOUT.jpg




You can bet the farm that the brave Russian Navy won't be attacking a US warship in the waters of the Black Sea where they attacked two small Ukrainian patrol craft and a tug recently.

Related: US prepares to sail warship into Black Sea amid Ukraine-Russia clash near Crimea

https://www.debatepolitics.com/europe/338986-russias-piracy-and-kidnapping-25-november-2018-a.html

That "brave" Russian Navy wouldn't do anything in the Black Sea waters precisely where the Ukraine boats were attacked.

Gutless cowards when faced with a far stronger power.

I hope and pray they do. Would be great fun watching the brave Russian Navy huff and puff and, sail away.

The "brave" Russian Navy does nothing when a US warship sails near Crimea and Russia. Nothing.

The US flies a Global Hawk drone and a Navy P-3C aircraft off the shores of Crimea and Russia every single day. Nothing.

Just days ago the US sailed a warship by Peter the Great Bay off the Russian port city of Vladivostok. Nothing.

The brave Russian military isn't so enthusiastic about teaching the US Navy a lesson.

But it sure likes to flex against small shore patrol craft and a beat up tugboat. Such bravery!

The Kremlin should be embarrassed. The whole world can see how cowardly the Russian Navy really is.




 
You only need to read his posts . Cheering any dead Russian citings. Dancing on the bodies of dead Ukrainians for properganda purposes, like this thread

But I will show you how long I have been noticing this......


From one thread alone a few years back

A thread where a US ship is trying to provoke a response from the Russian navy. RV is practically drooling over the thought of a possible conflict.

Dancing on the bodies of Ukrainians.

Wow.

When I thought you couldn't slink lower.
 
You only need to read his posts . Cheering any dead Russian citings. Dancing on the bodies of dead Ukrainians for properganda purposes, like this thread

But I will show you how long I have been noticing this......


From one thread alone a few years back

A thread where a US ship is trying to provoke a response from the Russian navy. RV is practically drooling over the thought of a possible conflict.

O gimmee and effing break. Russian ships and planes do way more of this type of harassment than the US does. Once again we see your huge one-sided attempt to support your agenda of lies.
The Russians do not own the Black Sea. Just another example of their imperialistic machinations.
 
Again, we don’t care about your personal problems and would prefer that you keep your whining to yourself. Some people are actually concerned about living through the day because of the brutal assault of the army of the evil madman Putin, so we just flat don’t care if you are going to ride your stationary bike or have medical appointments. Again, please keep your whining to yourself.

What's this " we"?

If you have elected yourself as a group spokesperson , I feel sorry for that group
 
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