# Aid drives for frontline troops and exhausted teachers: Inside a Russian school during wartime. Read an excerpt from Sergey Lebedenko’s new novel.

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/aid-drives-for-frontline-troops-and-exhausted-teachers-inside-a-russian-school-during-wartime-read-an-excerpt-from-sergey-lebedenkos-new-novel/
- Published: 2026-11-09T18:19:08+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-09T20:08:38+00:00
- Original publisher: Meduza
- Original article: https://meduza.io/en/feature/2026/11/09/aid-drives-for-frontline-troops-and-exhausted-teachers-inside-a-russian-school-during-wartime-read-an-excerpt-from-sergey-lebedenko-s-new-novel
- Topics: Europe, World

## Key points

- A new novel follows a Russian teacher organising wartime aid.
- Kira and Zhenya pack ten boxes of supplies.
- The excerpt explores exhaustion and the strain behind patriotic rituals.

## Summary

The article introduces Sergey Lebedenko’s new novel, *Kira Has Fucking Had It*, and publishes its first chapter in English. Its central character, Kira, is a history teacher in a small Russian town who believes in patriotic ideals and helps organise aid for troops, but finds her sincerity colliding with the gap between those ideals and everyday reality.

The excerpt follows Kira and colleague Zhenya as they pack ten boxes of supplies collected by school classes, including socks, medicine, food, letters and trench candles. Kira has gathered seven boxes to Zhenya’s three and is worn out, while their conversation touches on pupils’ understanding of the war and the burdens placed on teachers. The novel also features episodes in which Kira sees and hears things others cannot; the article says these visions eventually show her the worst thing she can imagine.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.