San Francisco Frontiers - Ukraine veteran stages puppet shows to honour killed soldiers

Wounded in combat in May 2022 in eastern Ukraine, he then started evacuating the dead bodies of colleagues who had been less lucky before being discharged when he reached 60 years old.

Since then he has been retelling his life as a civilian and soldier through theatrical stories told with wiry white figurines made from paper.

"This performance is dedicated to the memory of my comrades who fought in my unit and fell in my unit," he said during a recent performance in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, attended by AFP journalists.

"My comrades saved my life. So this is for them," he told the small audience.

Kravchuk had already been putting on figuring displays while serving on the front.

And when he returned to Lviv after being wounded, his friend who first created the dolls gifted him the white figurines. Kravchuk then created a theatrical performance called Wings, dedicated to his killed colleagues.

On stage, he slowly removes the dolls one-by-one from his weathered leather suitcase. Each represents a character from his life, including soldiers he fought alongside and those who had taught him valuable life lessons.

"The tenderness and the messages conveyed through the puppets are very important," Kravchuk told AFP, saying these messages might help give audiences extra "reason to live."

Soft-spoken Kravchuk, who comes from a family of actors and artists, puts on the show in his own puppet theatre.

"We are fighting not so much, as wise people say, for territory, but first and foremost for our culture and culture is made up of living people, that is what we are fighting for above all else," he said.

"This war will be long, that is the truth we must face. Each of us must do our part where we are," he added.

S.Jackson--SFF