The names of the months in Ukrainian are honest and wonderfully evocative of the natural year. April is Kviten, after kvity (flowers). Lypen’, July, celebrates the fragrance of the linden tree, lypa. The name for October, Zhovten’, is rooted in zhovtiy (yellow), for the pervasive warm gold of autumn leaves.
The names for the winter months are no less honest, no less evocative, and much less cheerful.
December: Hruden’, after hruda (lump), for the way soil churned up by horses’ hooves freezes into small, hard lumps.
January: Sichen’. The etymology isn’t as straightforward as the other months, but it refers to the small, sharp snowflakes that hurt when they strike your face.
February: Lyutiy. Literally fierce, savage, angry. The weather in Lyutiy is lyutiy.
These are the conditions Ukrainian soldiers will endure in the coming months. This is why we’re raising money to outfit them with proper winter gear.
NATO will supply winter gear as well, but there will always be units scraping the bottom of the barrel for supplies, always units for equipment to trickle down to. We aim to help those units. To that end, we’ve sourced enough [ECWCS? Tru-Spec?] for 70 troops. Our partner Mykola will ensure that it gets to soldiers whom the NATO gear doesn’t reach, or doesn’t reach in time.
We thank you for your help filling the order.
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