Remembering Our Heroes

War is fertile ground for the cult of heroic death. When one country attacks another, the defense of the nation becomes a sacred struggle. Should they die, the country’s defenders become saints, and their memory is cherished just as religious believers revere the memory of the church’s principal saints. In the center of each Ukrainian town and in many villages, memorial avenues,featuring portraits of fallen soldiers have been created. They are a constant reminderin the heart of the community about the price paid for Ukrainian independence. More powerful than any video message by President Zelensky, these memorials serve to remind us that our lives pivot around the war and that Ukraine’s future, and by extension, the future of Ukrainians as a free people in an independent nation, hangs in the balance.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. Ukrainians are well aware of what their loved ones, friends, husbands, and sons are dying for – unlike the Russians, who are waging a war of conquest. On YouTube, one can find many videos featuring Russian men and women asking what Russian soldiers are dying for in Ukraine. Every Russian knows one good answer: for money, for the chance to play a dangerous lottery. In reality, this lottery is a win-win for the families of Russian servicemen. While the soldiers fight, they earn a high salary, and if they are killed, their families receive massive (by Russian standards) financial compensation, if, of course, the soldier is not classified as “missing in action.” Other Topics of Interest Putin Signs Three Secret Decrees as CIA Chief Makes Surprise Moscow Visit The decrees, numbered 605, 606 and 607, were signed but not published, leaving their contents unknown. In Russia, the cult of heroic death is organized differently. As in Ukraine, the graves of the fallen in Russian cemeteries are adorned with state flags; however, the streets and squares of towns and cities do not feature “avenues of memory” with portraits of the deceased. Rather, public spaces are plastered with advertisements for military service – essentially invitations to go to war. Early in the full-scale war, schools across Russia began displaying bas-reliefs and plaques commemorating alumni who had died in Ukraine; however, the Ministry of Education soon issued recommendations against the practice. The reason is clear: in some schools in Buryatia, Tuva, and other regions far from Moscow, the exterior walls could already be completely covered with such plaques. The rule that a defending army suffers far fewer casualties than an advancing one remains in effect. In a couple of weeks, the total number of Russian wounded and killed will reach one and a half million! The protracted aggression demands new ideas from the Russian command: how to motivate Russians to sign military contracts, and how to encourage troops already at the front to overcome their fear of death and advance into the “kill zone,” facing drones and gunfire. The Russian Orthodox Church continues to assist in this effort, though its frontline activities are directed solely at the Orthodox contingent of the Russian military. It is unknown how Russian Muslims and Buddhists in uniform are motivated. As in previous conflicts, this war sees the continued “participation” of heroes who fell in past wars. On the Russian side, this involves the relics of Russian Orthodox saints. Remarkably, their participation also entails casualties – losses affecting both the relics themselves and the clergy and soldiers who transport them from one battalion to another. Not long ago, strikes by Ukrainian drones in the occupied Donbas destroyed the relics of Saint Alexander Nevsky, which had been sent there on the initiative of Russian Defense Minister Belousov. Three Russian officers accompanying the relic were killed in the incident. According to Russian media reports, Alexander Nevsky’s relics were not involved in combat operations. They were being transported across occupied territory for use in prayer services aimed at “resolving the fuel crisis and unblocking fuel supplies to Crimea.” Last year, under similar circumstances, the relics of Saint Matrona of Moscow were lost in the combat zone. It is not known which saint of the Russian Orthodox Church will next be sent to the war zone to assist the Russian army; however, it is quite possible that Patriarch Kirill will refuse to grant Defense Minister Belousov permission to send any more holy relics into war. While there is little evidence that the practice improves the Russian army’s morale, the fact that they are being consumed by the fires of this war, severely dents the relics’ reputation as objects possessing miraculous powers in favor of the Russian cause. The Ukrainian leadership is also not averse to utilizing deceased heroes of the past in this war. Ukraine does not send saints’ relics to the front lines, but it is working on plans to repatriate the remains of Ukrainian writers and statesmen who died in exile. This process is proceeding very slowly and has been plagued by setbacks. The primary reason for repatriating remains for reburial was not, in fact, the war itself, but the risk that the graves of Ukrainian writers and statesmen buried abroad might simply vanish due to a lack of maintenance and unpaid cemetery plot fees. In 2017, the remains of Ukrainian writer Oleksandr Oles and his wife were saved from being lost in the Czech Republic, just in time. Had the family’s remains not been retrieved, they would have been consigned to a common grave, as the plot had already been purchased by another family. This year, official exhumations took place at cemeteries in Luxembourg and Rotterdam. The remains of Ukrainian independence fighters Andriy Melnyk and Yevhen Konovalets were transported to Ukraine and temporarily interred at the National Military Cemetery. They will be reburied in the Pantheon once it is constructed. Andriy Kurkov is an internationally acclaimed novelist and cultural activist whose widely published articles provide a personal view of the situation in his home country, Ukraine.