У віці 77 років пішла з життя хорватська письменниця і публіцистка Славенка Дракуліч.
Дракуліч є авторкою книг «Як ми пережили комунізм і навіть сміялися», «Вони б і мухи не скривдили», «Кафе Європа»,«Ніби мене немає» та ін.
Авторка писала про комунізм, посткомуністичну Європу, Югославські війни та воєнні злочини.
Freeing our brothers-in-arms from captivity is my personal priority and a matter of honor for every Azov member. From the first day after leaving Azovstal, nothing has consumed me more than working to secure what the Azov fighters who bravely fought in Mariupol and followed their orders deserve — the return of every single one of them home.
Azov works on this mission every day, both on the military front (constantly replenishing the exchange pool) and on the human rights front (through extensive advocacy on the issue of POWs in Ukraine and abroad). This work is often invisible, but the unit has never forgotten its captured fighters, not for a single moment.
Total focus on this must be a priority not only for Azov but also for all responsible state institutions and for all of Ukrainian society. This is the kind of state we all want to see, the one we have been fighting for over the past 12 years: one that is accountable to its citizens who gave themselves to the service of Ukraine, one that is ready to do everything possible to honor them as they deserve and stand by them in their darkest times.
Our nation has repeatedly demonstrated its capacity to defend its interests, no matter how great the cost. This is what makes our resistance to the enemy possible; this is what allowed us to hold firm and not submit. The return of the captive Azov members is yet another challenge, one we can only meet together, by uniting our efforts and keeping this issue on the agenda, above all in our own hearts and minds. Thank you to everyone who consistently supports Azov on this path.
Hundreds of Azov members, now entering their fifth year in captivity, are counting on us. Even in Russian concentration camps, constrained in what they can do, under torture and relentless pressure, they still find ways to support one another. We, with our freedom, our voice, and our capabilities at every level, are obligated to act.
I cannot help myself, but the Churchillian “so much owed by so many to so few” speaks to those times as well. Those who joined in 2014 could scarcely have anticipated 12 years of continuous war, having given up normal family lives, careers, and life as they once knew or had it.
Empires do not always announce their decline loudly. Sometimes it shows up in strange signals: songs, silences. You feel it before you can explain it. But memory is perspective. The USSR's end does not give us a script for today. History rhymes, but it does not repeat on demand.
“Am I going to die?” — Ukraine’s Patrol Police released a video showing officers rescuing children from a kindergarten in Kharkiv after the October 22 shelling.