Black Bags for Cargo 200: The Unannounced Russian War with Ukraine

In 2014, the unannounced Russian war with Ukraine had challenged not only the post-World War II borders in Europe, but also our understanding of the nature of wars. This contemporary war of the XXI century, at first, disguised itself as a local conflict, which quickly became a full-scale war. The officials from both, Russian and Ukrainian sides, were carefully avoiding the word “war” despite thousands of lost human lives and massive destruction in Eastern Ukraine. The book “Black Bags for Cargo 200” explores some key events of the Russian-Ukrainian war of 2014, including the first battle over the Donetsk International Airport and the tragedy of the Malaysian flight MH17. Following the long trip of the first official “cargo 200”, which is the Soviet-era name for war casualties, from Ukraine to Russia, a reader may see how black plastic bags, used to transport human remains, have become the symbol of this senseless and brutal war.