INEWS
As the past year slides into history, it will be remembered for the outbreak of a cruel war that scars our continent. After spending so many months reporting on the sad events in Ukraine, witnessing a country ripped apart on the whim of a desperate dictator, I have heard too many distressing stories and seen too many disturbing scenes.
As a new year dawns, it is crucial we do not become inured to the agonies, atrocities and bloodshed in this epic struggle between democracy and dictatorship. So let me tell you the tale of one woman whom I met last January in Kharkiv, now living traumatised in Britain after almost a decade of suffering due to Kremlin terror.
Her name is Olena Znatkova. We met in the Derzhprom, a sprawling architectural masterpiece that was Europe’s first skyscraper complex when it opened in 1928 as a showcase for Soviet ambition. Amazingly, it has survived so far the hell unleashed by the former KGB man trying to revive Moscow’s empire…
