SUNFLOWER FIELDS AND NO MAN'S LAND

AIR RAID SIRENS. DRONE BOMBS. ARTILLERY FIRING. LAND MINES. MISSILE STRIKES. DANGER STARES FROM ALL SIDES IN UKRAINE. THE WAR HAS DESTROYED MANY THINGS, BUT HAS NOT BROKEN THE COUNTRY'S INDOMITABLE SPIRIT. THE WEEK TRAVELS TO THE FRONTLINES AND EXPERIENCES THE WAR: "A WAR WITH A DIFFERENCE."

- BHANU PRAKASH CHANDRA

I am sitting in the balcony of my room on the tenth floor of the Ukraine Hotel in central Kyiv on July 15. It is one of the oldest in the capital city. Before me, the wide and beautiful landscape of Maidan Nezalezhnosti is bathed in summer light. The weather is warm and comforting. The Maidan is also known as Independence Square. A huge victory column stands there. It was built in 2001 to commemorate Ukraine’s independence from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in 1991. Atop the column stands a statue of the goddess Berehynia, holding a branch of guelder rose in her hand. To me, the statue looks like an angel, spreading her wings to take flight in the boundless blue sky—asserting a sense of freedom, an epitome of the Ukrainian spirit.

The Maidan has seen many a revolution. It was witness to the Orange Revolution in 2004, which started as a movement of collective anger against corruption and poll rigging. In 2013-14, it saw the Revolution of Dignity, a mass protest against then president Viktor Yanukovych and his sudden decision not to go ahead with a European Union-Ukraine Association Agreement. More than 100 protesters were shot dead, allegedly by assassins and authorities.

The Revolution of Dignity was a turning point in Ukraine’s fight against Russia, and what started at the Maidan has had a ripple effect across the country. Today, more than a year after Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, Ukraine is still offering stout resistance. This June, it launched its counteroffensive, regaining ground and making advances on its eastern front.