War is made of blood and terror, but it is also made of emotion, not all of it logical, easy, pretty or comfortable to express. In Ukraine, there is a “maelstrom of guilt”, the film-maker Iryna Tsilyk told a book festival audience in Lviv recently. “Each of us finds something to be guilty about … Those who left the country feel guilty for those who have stayed. Those who have stayed but live in the rear feel guilty for the military. The military have their own guilt – they feel guilty for their brothers and sisters who have had different levels of experience.”
There is survivor’s guilt when your fellow soldier was killed and you escaped unscathed. There is guilt for not “doing enough” to help the war effort. There is the guilt felt when your friend’s boyfriend is serving, but your own partner is exempt from mobilisation. Russia’s war has snatched territories from the Ukrainians, but has also insinuated itself into people’s relationships, where it squats, monstrously, between friends and lovers and family members.
