Blue & Yellow

Blue and yellow flags rippled in a gust of bitter wind and the crowd huddled in front of the Ukrainian embassy collectively shivered. It was the anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The gathering was small and somber. I had gotten used to the cheerful atmosphere of Georgian protests. This, however, was not just a protest—it was also a memorial.

More people arrived, squeezing into the narrow space between the road and the embassy gate. The press of bodies blocked the wind, and for a few moments, I felt warm. The Ukrainian ambassador gave a speech, but I was too far back to hear. When she finished, the crowd shifted, and I found myself in the front row of a circle.

The circle had formed around a woman holding a thick blue folder. She was speaking, but it was in Georgian and I didn’t understand. Then she opened the folder. Inside was a stack of paper colored in the blue and yellow of the Ukrainian flag. Georgian script scrolled across the blue and English on the yellow. They were names, it was then that I understood. Each page bore the name of a Georgian volunteer who had died fighting in Ukraine.

The woman read each name aloud, and with every name, the crowd cheered. As the list continued, a man passed the names around. One was pushed into my hand, Alexo Tsaava. I took it, though I felt like an intruder at a family funeral. The people around me had tears running down their cheeks. They wore pained expressions, as if every name was a fresh cut they had to endure. I wondered how many of them were family and friends of those killed. 

When all the names had been read, the crowd spread further down the street. Our numbers had grown, and we no longer fit on the sidewalk. A group of Russians had gathered near the embassy gate. One carried a sign displaying the sigils of the battalions fighting Russia in Ukraine. At the bottom, in Russian, was a call to end the Russki Mir—the Russian world.

Two others held signs supporting the Russian battalions fighting against Putin’s regime. Another had a drawing of the opposition Russian flag, with two white stripes framing a blue one, instead of the usual white, blue, and red. It is meant to represent Russia without the blood.