Today we woke up to a bright snow-downy world and the news that Russia had invaded Ukraine. Reports are mostly filtered through Twitter, amidst warnings of disinformation and American pundits confessing they didn't see this coming: university students heading to the frontlines, children clutching colouring books as they seek refuge, the father who didn't get out in time.

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"I think perhaps the best way to imagine what Ukrainians are going through is not to try too hard to project your thoughts onto a place you’ve probably never been but to think about the familiar small routines of your own day and how they’d be affected by an invasion. Are you or your family sitting by the window? Mightn’t it shatter in an explosion? Are you seriously going to drop your child off at school with missiles falling? You were going to have coffee with a friend, but it says on Facebook there’s a gun battle going on near the place you were supposed to meet up. You pop into the Co-op for groceries, but they’re only taking cash, and there’s a line around the block for the ATM. Your covid test comes out positive, but you live alone, and there’s nobody out there to deliver food to you."—James Meek, "Willed Madness", London Review of Books, 24 February 2022

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"War" by Charles Simic

The trembling finger of a woman
Goes down the list of casualties
On the evening of the first snow.

The house is cold and the list is long.

All our names are included.

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