Anna Conkling

Anatolii Stepanov/AFP via Getty ImagesKHARKIV, Ukraine—After months of infighting on Capitol Hill, President Joe Biden has finally been able to sign off on a huge new $61 billion military aid bill for Ukraine. Delays to the bill, which got bogged down in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, were widely blamed for impacting Kyiv’s ability to defend itself from Russian advances. After its passage last week, some members of the House waved Ukrainian flags while others cheered in celebration that Ukraine will soon receive new weapons ahead of Russia’s expected counteroffensive. Signing it into law at a White House ceremony on Wednesday, Biden promised the arms shipments would begin immediately and hailed what he called “a good day for world peace.”The reaction here, near the front lines of the war, felt very different.Read more at The Daily Beast.

Photo Illustration by Erin O’Flynn/The Daily Beast/Getty ImagesKherson was the first major city to fall to Russian forces in the days after President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine began. Few people had time to flee before the city fell to the Russians, including members of Kherson’s government, who remained trapped under occupation with a target on their backs.Now, Kherson is once again a frontline town where attacks happen most days. With no new aid from the U.S. and a low supply of weapons, the authorities who remain fear the return of fighting on the streets, and the trauma of Russian occupation is constantly on their minds.One man who asked to be referred to as “Ihor” told The Daily Beast that many people in Kherson resisted Russian soldiers by protests, working in underground networks, or sending information to Ukraine’s military when the city was occupied two years ago. Ihor and his wife had been attending anti-occupation protests for months and keeping up with Ukrainian news on their hidden cellphone.Read more at The Daily Beast.

Anna Conkling/The Daily BeastKOSTIANTYNIVKA, Ukraine—In a large bedroom in eastern Ukraine, a woman in her eighties wearing a fluffy pink bathrobe hunches over a table by her bed. The room is filled with icons of the Virgin Mary, Jesus Christ, and Saint Nicholas, figures she believes protect her against evil curses and the dangers of the war. The woman fixes her stare at the table, which she has filled with playing cards, ranging from the ten of clubs to the queen of hearts. She looks at me and says, “You need to leave Ukraine. You are in danger if you stay.”Anastasia says she is psychic and has made a living off of her “abilities,” which play a crucial role in the lives of her clients. Two years of Russian aggression have left some of them eager for answers to their everyday problems, like love and wealth, but they also ask if there is a reason they should leave their homes, like a looming occupation or if they will become a direct casualty of the war.Turning to the MysticRead more at The Daily Beast.

Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/GettyYEREVAN, Armenia—Teachers in Russia are increasingly being used as a tool to push pro-Kremlin propaganda on their students as the war in Ukraine enters its third year.Amongst biology and math lessons, these teachers are forced to introduce discussions of “important things” that all Russians should know, which just so happen to include pushing pro-war sentiment onto their students and educating young minds on Russian nationalism.Any public opposition could result in the teachers being fired or imprisoned for not supporting the invasion of Ukraine. Teachers from Russia who spoke to The Daily Beast said they are left with two choices: suffer in silence as their profession is used as a political pawn by Russian President Vladimir Putin, or speak up and risk losing their freedom.Read more at The Daily Beast.

Diego Herrera Carcedo/Getty ImagesKUPYANSK, Ukraine—Ukrainian troops in Kupyansk are running low on ammunition and weapons as they fight to remain in control of a city that doesn’t even want to be saved from the Russians. In this eastern town, soldiers say that they are afraid that pro-Russian civilian collaborators might help to poison, bomb, or otherwise kill them because they believe that life under Vladimir Putin’s occupation would be better than living in a free Ukraine.Located in the eastern Kharkiv region, Kupyansk was once nicknamed “Little Russia” and has become known for its pro-Russian sentiment. It was the first city to surrender to Russian forces at the start of the full-scale invasion, and it did so without a single shot being fired, which was partially due to Kupyansk’s pro-Russian mayor, Hennadiy Matsehora, who told residents to “avoid human sacrifices and destruction of our infrastructure,” according to Deutsche Welle at the time.By Feb. 27, 2022, Kupyansk was already occupied, and it would remain under Russian control until September 2022, when Ukraine’s rapid counteroffensive saw Kyiv reclaim 1,160 sq miles of land in just two months.Read more at The Daily Beast.