‘Losing the best of us’ – war deaths relentless but Ukrainians say they won’t be broken

Published

2 years ago

April 2, 2023

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In the vast windswept cemetery on the outskirts of Dnipro low clouds drift and mist drizzles over the graves of the fallen in this war.

There is no noise apart from the flapping of hundreds of Ukraine flags – blue for the sky, yellow for the wheatfields of this farming country.

Mounds of freshly dug earth indicate new graves in preparation for more bodies brought from the frontlines.

Their arrival is inevitable now, and most are coming from the eastern city of Bakhmut.

In the bleak light we watch from a distance as a family huddles together, laying flowers, paying their respects, and quietly grieving.

They are the family of Alik Lychko, a soldier recently killed in the battle for Bakhmut; he was buried here just two days earlier.

We approached, they wanted to talk. Perhaps they felt that talking about their brother and son would help preserve his memory.

“We don’t know how to cope with our grief,” his mother Anna tells me between quiet sobs.

“He was only 24 years old; we can’t just pull ourselves together.”

The Lychko family is from Soledar in the east, but they fled as Russian forces moved in.

The Russians have taken their land, so their brother and son is buried here – miles away from home.

“All of us are from occupied territories, all of us are refugees from the Donetsk region, but we have to bury him here,” says his sister Khrystyna.

Their mother, Anna, interrupts: “We have nothing; no home, no property, everything is gone, everything, and it’s really terrible that we are losing our children at this age, so young.

“He had a daughter, four years old, she now doesn’t have a father, it’s very hard.”

In that moment I wondered if there would come a time this all gets too much for families like this one, whether their grief is just too overwhelming to carry on.

‘We will not break’

It’s clear they hate this war, but there is a steely resolve.

“We will carry on fighting, what else can we do?” one brother, Ruslan, tells me.

“We are in our home, we never invaded anyone, they invaded us.

“The worst of them came to us, and we are losing our best, the best of us.

“But it doesn’t mean that we will surrender or that we will break at some point – we will not break. As we have seen in the past year, they will fail in their attempt to break us.”

The Ukrainian government does not release figures for the number of soldiers killed in action, but we know it’s in the thousands and is mostly men.

It’s easy to forget many of those who joined up following Russia’s invasion last year are young professionals such as graphic designers, artists, teachers, athletes.

It’s easy to lose count of the sheer number of funerals taking place every day across Ukraine.

In the capital Kyiv, St Michael’s monastery is in many ways a symbol of the country’s defiance. It was built in the 12th century and torn down by the Soviets in the 1930s and now rebuilt.

This holy place gives succour to the families and comrades of those killed in this war that grinds on.

And it is here, and on Maidan Square, that we witness funeral after funeral after funeral. Yet another soldier killed hundreds of miles away in eastern Ukraine in the fierce defence of Bakhmut.

These days, Ukraine’s desire to expunge Russian and Soviet traditions stretches to its funeral protocols.

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The trembita horns are a regular occurrence at services – the instrument comes from the western mountains of Ukraine.

Kneeling as the fallen pass by is a tradition also from the west, a tradition now practised across the country.

At the funeral procession for Dmytro Kotsiubailo, a national hero lauded by President Zelenskyy, thousands took to the street to remember him and all who have died.

As they wound their way towards Maidan Square, where pretty much all this started in 2014, the shouts of glory to Ukraine rang loud.

Among those gathered was Tetyana Marinchenko, who was carrying a framed photo of her husband who died in this war.

“We’re losing the best of us,” she tells me, a phrase I’ve heard repeated here many times.

Another mourner, Maria, told me the nation has not yet gone through the emotions of losing so many of its young men.

“After victory we will need a long time for crying and grieving for everyone, everyone we lost in this war.”

For now, Ukraine is holding strong, but there is no doubting this nation’s loss is huge and growing by the day.

Its fortitude, and that of the families who have lost loved ones, will be severely tested as the war drags on.

World

Donald Trump announces 30% tariff on imports from EU

Published

2 hours ago

July 12, 2025

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Donald Trump announces 30% tariff on imports from EU

Donald Trump has announced he will impose a 30% tariff on imports from the European Union from 1 August.

The tariffs could make everything from French cheese and Italian leather goods to German electronics and Spanish pharmaceuticals more expensive in the US.

Mr Trump has also imposed a 30% tariff on goods from Mexico, according to a post from his Truth Social account.

Announcing the moves in separate letters on the account, the president said the US trade deficit was a national security threat.

In his letter to the EU, he wrote: “We have had years to discuss our trading relationship with The European Union, and we have concluded we must move away from these long-term, large, and persistent, trade Deficits, engendered by your tariff, and non-Tariff, policies, and trade barriers.

“Our relationship has been, unfortunately, far from reciprocal.”

In his letter to Mexico, Mr Trump said he did not think the country had done enough to stop the US from turning into a “narco-trafficking playground”.

The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said today that the EU could adopt “proportionate countermeasures” if the US proceeds with imposing the 30% tariff.

Ms von der Leyen, who heads the EU’s executive arm, said in a statement that the bloc remained ready “to continue working towards an agreement by Aug 1”.

“Few economies in the world match the European Union’s level of openness and adherence to fair trading practices,” she continued.

“We will take all necessary steps to safeguard EU interests, including the adoption of proportionate countermeasures if required.”

Ms von der Leyen has also said imposing tariffs on EU exports would “disrupt essential transatlantic supply chains”.

Meanwhile, Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof said on the X social media platform that Mr Trump’s announcement was “very concerning and not the way forward”.

He added: “The European Commission can count on our full support. As the EU we must remain united and resolute in pursuing an outcome with the United States that is mutually beneficial.”

Mexico’s economy ministry said a bilateral working group aims to reach an alternative to the 30% US tariffs before they are due to take effect.

The country was informed by the US that it would receive a letter about the tariffs, the ministry’s statement said, adding that Mexico was negotiating.

Trump’s tariff threats and delays

On his so-called “liberation day” in April, Mr Trump unleashed “reciprocal tariffs” on many of America’s trade partners.

The US president said he was targeting countries with which America has a trade imbalance.

However, since then he’s backed down in a spiralling tit-for-tat tariff face-off with China, and struck a deal with the UK.

The US imposed a 20% tariff on imported goods from the EU in April but it was later paused and the bloc has since been paying a baseline tariff of 10% on goods it exports to the US.

In May, while the US and EU where holding trade negotiations, Mr Trump threated to impose a 50% tariff on the bloc as talks didn’t progress as he would have liked.

However, he later announced he was delaying the imposition of that tariff while negotiations over a trade deal took place.

As of earlier this week, the EU’s executive commission, which handles trade issues for the bloc’s 27-member nations, said its leaders were still hoping to strike a trade deal with the Trump administration.

Without one, the EU said it was prepared to retaliate with tariffs on hundreds of American products, ranging from beef and auto parts to beer and Boeing airplanes.

World

‘At least 798 killed’ at Gaza aid points – as medical charity warns acute malnutrition at all-time high

Published

21 hours ago

July 11, 2025

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'At least 798 killed' at Gaza aid points - as medical charity warns acute malnutrition at all-time high

At least 798 people in Gaza have reportedly been killed while receiving aid in the past six weeks – while acute malnutrition is said to have reached an all-time high.

The UN human rights office said 615 of the deaths – between 27 May and 7 July – were “in the vicinity” of sites run by the controversial US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

A further 183 people killed were “presumably on the route of aid convoys,” said Ravina Shamdasani, from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Its figures are based on a range of sources, including hospitals, cemeteries, and families in the Gaza Strip, as well as non-governmental organisations (NGOs), its partners on the ground, and Hamas-run health authorities.

Aid agency Project Hope said on Thursday that 10 children were among at least 15 people killed as they waited for its clinic in Deir al Balah to open.

The GHF has claimed the UN figures are “false and misleading” and has repeatedly denied any violence at or around its sites.

Meanwhile, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) – also known as Doctors Without Borders – said two of its sites were seeing their worst-ever levels of severe malnutrition.

Cases at its Gaza City clinic are said to have tripled from 293 in May to 983 in early July.

“Over 700 pregnant or breastfeeding women and nearly 500 children are now receiving emergency nutritional care,” MSF said.

The humanitarian medical charity said food prices were at extreme levels, with sugar at $766 (£567) per kilo and flour $30 (£22) per kilo, and many families surviving on one meal of rice or lentils a day.

It’s a major concern for the estimated 55,000 pregnant women in Gaza, who risk miscarriage, stillbirth and malnourished infants because of the shortages.

The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, after Israel eased its 11-week blockade of aid into the coastal territory.

It has four distribution centres, three of which are in the southern Gaza Strip.

The sites, kept off-limits to independent media, are guarded by private security contractors and located in zones where the Israeli military operates.

Palestinian witnesses say Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire towards crowds of people going to receive aid.

The Israeli military says it has fired warning shots at people who have behaved in what it says is a suspicious manner.

It says its forces operate near the aid sites to stop supplies from falling into the hands of militants.

After the deaths of hundreds of Palestinians trying to reach the aid hubs, the United Nations has called the GHF’s aid model “inherently unsafe” and a violation of humanitarian impartiality standards.

In response, a GHF spokesperson said: “The fact is the most deadly attacks on aid sites have been linked to UN convoys.”

The GHF says it has delivered more than 70 million meals to Gazans in five weeks and claims other humanitarian groups had “nearly all of their aid looted” by Hamas or criminal gangs.

World

At least 798 people have been killed at Gaza aid points, the UN says

Published

1 day ago

July 11, 2025

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At least 798 people in Gaza have been killed while receiving aid in six weeks, the UN human rights office has said.

A spokesperson for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said 615 of the killings were “in the vicinity” of sites run by the controversial US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

A further 183 people killed were “presumably on the route of aid convoys,” Ravina Shamdasani told reporters in Geneva.

The office said its figures are based on numbers from a range of sources, including hospitals, cemeteries and families in the Gaza Strip, as well as NGOs, its partners on the ground and the Hamas-run health authorities.

The GHF has claimed the figures are “false and misleading”. It has repeatedly denied there has been any violence at or around its sites.

The organisation began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, after Israel eased its 11-week blockade of aid into the enclave.

It has four distribution centres, three of which are in the southern Gaza Strip. The sites, kept off-limits to independent media, are guarded by private security contractors and located in zones where the Israeli military operates.

Palestinian witnesses say Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire towards crowds of people going to receive aid.

The Israeli military says it has fired warning shots at people who have behaved in what they say is a suspicious manner.

It says its forces operate near the aid sites to stop supplies falling into the hands of militants.

In response, a GHF spokesperson told the Reuters news agency: “The fact is the most deadly attacks on aid sites have been linked to UN convoys.”

The GHF says it has delivered more than 70 million meals to Gazans in five weeks and claims other humanitarian groups had “nearly all of their aid looted” by Hamas or criminal gangs.