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Britain and Ireland Panorama (19 Days)

• Fully Guided

Places You’ll See

• Introduction
• Day 1 Arrive London
• Day 2 Discover Historic London
• Day 3 Journey to Stratford-upon-Avon and on to York
• Day 4 Continue through Northumberland to Edinburgh
• Day 5 Discover Enchanting Edinburgh
• Day 6 Venture into the Scottish Highlands
• Day 7 Explore the Isle of Skye
• Day 8 Onwards to Loch Lomond and Glasgow’s Rich Legacy Dive Into Culture
• Day 9 Through the Lake District to Liverpool Connect with Locals
• Day 10 Across the Irish Sea to Dublin
• Day 11 Admire Dublin’s Iconic Sights Dive Into Culture
• Day 12 On to Galway and Limerick
• Day 13 Circle the Ring of Kerry and on to Cork Stays With Stories
• Day 14 The Sights of Blarney, Waterford and Wexford Dive Into Culture
• Day 15 Ferry across to Cardiff
• Day 16 Enjoy Bath, Glastonbury and Plymouth
• Day 17 A Day Exploring Coastal Villages
• Day 18 Journey to Prehistoric Stonehenge and return to London
• Day 19 Cheerio London

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What's Included

• Accommodation
• Additional Services

Where You'll Stay

Sustainability initiatives.

Reduce Carbon Emissions

Animal Welfare

Supporting Destinations

Sustainability Programs

Reviews About This Operator

• Tour Operator Brendan Vacations 4.2
• carol · 8th October 2023 Once on the trip it was good. The communication prior to getting there left something to be desired. (We were bumped... Show more
• Dennis · 16th July 2023 The tour was awesome. The tour director was great with the commentary during the bus ride and what to expect at the... Show more
• Mary · 15th June 2023 The plan and execution went very smoothly. Our driver and guide were excellent.

Dates & Availability

Pay-by-instalments

Take advantage of our 0% interest instalment plan on selected departures. Learn More

• Upcoming departures
• August 2024
• September 2024
• Tuesday 7 May, 2024 Saturday 25 May, 2024 English Based on Twin Not available in your region
• Tuesday 14 May, 2024 Saturday 1 Jun, 2024 English Based on Twin Not available in your region
• Tuesday 21 May, 2024 Saturday 8 Jun, 2024 English Based on Twin Not available in your region
• Tuesday 28 May, 2024 Saturday 15 Jun, 2024 English Based on Twin Not available in your region
• Tuesday 11 Jun, 2024 Saturday 29 Jun, 2024 English Based on Twin Not available in your region
• Tuesday 18 Jun, 2024 Saturday 6 Jul, 2024 English Based on Twin Not available in your region
• Tuesday 2 Jul, 2024 Saturday 20 Jul, 2024 English Based on Twin Not available in your region
• Tuesday 16 Jul, 2024 Saturday 3 Aug, 2024 English Based on Twin Not available in your region
• Tuesday 23 Jul, 2024 Saturday 10 Aug, 2024 English Based on Twin Not available in your region
• Tuesday 6 Aug, 2024 Saturday 24 Aug, 2024 English Based on Twin Not available in your region
• Tuesday 13 Aug, 2024 Saturday 31 Aug, 2024 English Based on Twin Not available in your region
• Tuesday 20 Aug, 2024 Saturday 7 Sep, 2024 English Based on Twin Not available in your region
• Tuesday 27 Aug, 2024 Saturday 14 Sep, 2024 English Based on Twin Not available in your region
• Tuesday 3 Sep, 2024 Saturday 21 Sep, 2024 English Based on Twin Not available in your region
• Tuesday 10 Sep, 2024 Saturday 28 Sep, 2024 English Based on Twin Not available in your region
• Tuesday 17 Sep, 2024 Saturday 5 Oct, 2024 English Based on Twin Not available in your region
• Tuesday 24 Sep, 2024 Saturday 12 Oct, 2024 English Based on Twin Not available in your region
• 16 Other Unavailable Departures

Frequently Asked Questions

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Good to Know

• Currencies € Euro Ireland £ Pound Sterling England, Scotland and Wales

As a traveller from USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa you will need an adaptor for type G.

• Unfortunately we cannot offer you a visa application service. Whether you need a visa or not depends on your nationality and where you wish to travel. Assuming your home country does not have a visa agreement with the country you're planning to visit, you will need to apply for a visa in advance of your scheduled departure.
• Here is an indication for which countries you might need a visa. Please contact the local embassy for help applying for visas to these places.
• For any tour departing before 2nd July 2024 a full payment is necessary. For tours departing after 2nd July 2024, a minimum payment of €200 is required to confirm your booking with Brendan Vacations. The final payment will be automatically charged to your credit card on the designated due date. The final payment of the remaining balance is required at least 65 days prior to the departure date of your tour. TourRadar never charges you a booking fee and will charge you in the stated currency.
• Some departure dates and prices may vary and Brendan Vacations will contact you with any discrepancies before your booking is confirmed.
• The following cards are accepted for "Brendan Vacations" tours: Visa, Maestro, Mastercard, American Express or PayPal. TourRadar does NOT charge you an extra fee for using any of these payment methods.
• Insurance Unless otherwise mentioned, TourRadar does not provide travel insurance. We do however recommend purchasing it through our tried and trusted partner, World Travel Nomads .
• Accessibility Some tours are not suitable for mobility-restricted traveller, however, some operators may be able to accommodate special requests. For any enquiries, you can contact our customer support team , who are ready and waiting to help you.
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The Europe Hotel & Spa

Ireland - killarney - hotel.

• Check In 3:00 PM
• Check Out 12:00 PM

The Europe Hotel & Resort enjoys the most stunning of locations on the lakes of Killarney and at the foot of the magnificient Kerry mountains. The five star hotel, which has been welcoming guests for more than 50 years, makes the most of its location in every way. From the moments guests walk through the door they are greeted by a two story atrium, overlooking the lakes and throughout their stay, whether dining in the restaurant or relaxing in the spa, guests enjoy the peaceful vista over the gardens to the lakes. This breathtaking setting offers guests the chance to experience true luxury in the heart of Ireland's south east.

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Brendan Vacations has helped travelers create wonderful memories since 1969. Operating vacations in Ireland and Scotland exclusively, Brendan delivers authentic experiences with itineraries designed by experts.

The company’s guided vacations provide terrific value and include hotel stays, some meals, sightseeing excursions and transportation between cities aboard a deluxe motorcoach -- all for one attractive price. Accommodations are carefully selected, too. You might stay in a castle or manor or urban hotel, each with its own special charm. A professional Travel Director oversees logistics and shares amazing stories about the history and culture of each place you visit.

Trip ratings on this site are based on the quality of accommodations, the number of included meals and activities and the level of service delivered. Brendan's vacations are categorized as first class on the industry rating scale (budget, first class or deluxe).

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Brendan Steele leads LIV Adelaide by one stroke after second round at The Grange

Brendan Steele of HyFlyers GC waves to the crowd during the second round of LIV Golf Adelaide at the Grange Golf Club Saturday, April 27, 2024 in Adelaide, Australia.(John Ferrey/LIV Golf via AP)

Brendan Steele of HyFlyers GC hits his shot during the second round of LIV Golf Adelaide at the Grange Golf Club Saturday, April 27, 2024 in Adelaide, Australia.(John Ferrey/LIV Golf via AP)

Carlos Ortiz watches a shot during the second round of LIV Series golf tournament at The Grange on Saturday, April 27, 2024 in Adelaide, Australia. (Matt Turner/LIV Golf via AP)

Jinichiro Kozuma reacts to a missed birdie putt on the third hole during the second round of LIV Golf Adelaide at The Grange on Saturday, April 27, 2024, in Adelaide, Australia. (Matthew Harris/LIV Golf via AP)

Scott Vincent watches a shot during the second round of LIV Golf Adelaide at The Grange on Saturday, April 27, 2024, in Adelaide, Australia. (Santanu Banik/LIV Golf via AP)

Captain Cameron Smith of Ripper GC hits his shot from the 14th tee during the first round of LIV Golf Adelaide at the Grange Golf Club Friday, April 26, 2024, in Adelaide, Australia. (LIV Golf via AP)

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ADELAIDE, Australia (AP) — Three-time PGA Tour winner Brendan Steele shot an 8-under 64 Saturday to take a one-stroke lead after two rounds of the LIV Tour’s Adelaide tournament at The Grange Golf Club.

The 41-year-old Steele’s last PGA Tour victory came in 2017 when he won his second Safeway Open. He lost in a playoff to Australian Cameron Smith at the 2020 Sony Open in Hawaii.

Steele had a 36-hole total of 14-under 130. He had a streak of four birdies, a bogey and two birdies in the middle of his round.

Danny Lee was a stroke behind after a 67, followed by Carlos Ortiz (68) and Mito Pereira (67) in a tie for third.

First-round leader Jinichiro Kozuma shot 71 and was tied for ninth, four strokes behind Steele. The Japanese player had an eagle, three birdies and four bogeys.

Jon Rahm, who has yet to win since joining LIV in December, shot 69 and was tied for 15th, six strokes off the lead.

Steele predicted a 20-under total would be needed to win after Sunday’s final round.

“There’s good scores out there for sure,” he said. “If you’re in the fairway, then you can take on a lot of the pins.”

Smith shot 65 and was among those three behind in a four-way tie for fifth.

Enjoying the home crowd’s support, Smith said he was grateful for the lady his errant shot hit on the 17th hole. The shot rebounded kindly off the woman and Smith ended up with a birdie on the hole.

“I hit her in the back,” Smith said. “It probably wasn’t going to be in the trees, but it was going to be in the rough and a different lie, so it could have been a different outcome. But (I) made her proud and made a birdie there, and she helped me out — hopefully that eased the pain a little bit for her.”

A new friendship ensued.

“She was nice,” Smith said. “I went over there and I signed a ball, and she said ‘just give me a hug’, so I gave her a hug as well. She was sweet.”

There was also drama in another Australian’s round with Lucas Herbert’s caddie, Nick Pugh, hit in the head by a water bottle thrown from the crowd while replacing the flagstick at the 12th hole.

Herbert had just holed a birdie putt to finish his round in the shotgun format and was celebrating with fans at the par-3, known as the ‘watering hole’ with its loud music and boisterous fans, when Pugh was hit in the back of the head.

Pugh initially sunk to his knees but made his way back to the clubhouse and was reportedly uninjured and in good spirits.

The LIV tour remains in the Asia region next week for the May 3-5 Singapore event at the Sentosa Golf Club. Then there’s a month-long break before resuming in Houston from June 7-9.

AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

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How the Trump trial is playing in Maga world: sublime indifference, collective shrug

The hush-money criminal trial receives less prominence in conservative media, and when Trump-friendly networks do turn to the trial, they give viewers an alternative narrative

I n one America, he cuts a diminished, humbled figure during coverage that runs from morn till night. “He seems considerably older and he seems annoyed, resigned, maybe angry,” said broadcaster Rachel Maddow after seeing Donald Trump up close in court. “He seems like a man who is miserable to be here.”

But in the other America – that of Fox News, far-right podcasts and the Make America Great Again (Maga) base – the trial of the former president over a case involving a hush-money payment to an adult film performer is playing out very differently.

Here, anger at what is seen as political persecution meets with another emotion: sublime indifference. Barely a handful of Trump supporters bother to protest each day outside the court in New York, a Democratic stronghold. The trial receives less prominence in conservative media, which prefers to devote airtime to other national news including protests on university campuses against the war in Gaza.

The divergence ensures that, with TV cameras not permitted in court, two rival narratives are forming around the first criminal trial of an ex-US president. In one telling, Trump is a philander who falsified business records to illegally influence the 2016 presidential election. In the other, he is the victim of a justice department conspiracy designed to rob the Republican nominee of victory in 2024.

Michael Steele , a former chair of the Republican National Committee, said: “The minds in those orbits are already made up. If you’re listening to [far-right podcaster] Steve Bannon, you’re not going to be convinced by any other outcome except not guilty. If you are hyperventilating over coverage that speaks to Donald Trump’s guilt, then you’re not going to be happy unless he’s found guilty. ”

The trial, which began in earnest this week with prosecution and defence arguments, would already be devastating for any conventional politician. The former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker testified about his tabloid’s efforts to protect Trump from stories that could hurt his electoral chances using a “catch-and-kill” scheme. The capricious defendant is also awaiting a ruling on whether he will be held in contempt for violating a gag order, an offence he has been accused of 14 times.

The trial has dominated cable news networks such as CNN and MSNBC to the extent that they have faced criticism for obsessing over details such as Trump’s daily commute to court and his demeanour once inside. But in the Maga universe, there is a collective shrug.

Matt Gertz , a senior fellow at the watchdog Media Matters for America, said: “The rightwing media very much does not want to be talking about this week. You see both CNN and MSNBC covering the trial pretty much throughout as it plays out, whereas over on Fox it’s one of many stories that they’re covering and not a particularly prominent one at that. ”

Fox News, America’s most watched cable television network, has similarly played down past Trump dramas such as the impeachment trials and the congressional panel investigating the January 6 attack, Gertz noted. “You see a similar situation where news outlets are providing constant coverage of big breaking news events and Fox News is feeding its audience its typical culture war mix and avoiding talking about what is quite clearly bad news for their candidate of choice.”

When Trump-friendly networks do turn to the trial, they give viewers an alternative narrative from the one dominating CNN, MSNBC, the New York Times and the Washington Post. After a hearing has wrapped for the day, Fox News regularly carries live coverage of Trump’s diatribes against the judge, Biden and the cold temperature of the courtroom.

It has also amplified his narrative of martyrdom. Newt Gingrich, a former House speaker, told Fox News: “This is literally like some of the civil rights workers in Mississippi in the 1960s.” Jesse Watters, a co-host on The Five on the same network, worried that it is unfair to make a man who is almost 80 sit for hour after hour. “It’s not healthy,” he said . “He needs sunlight. He needs activity. He needs to be walking around. He needs action. It is really cruel and unusual punishment to make a man do that, and any time he moves, they threaten to throw him in prison.”

They have even defended Trump – who regularly mocks Biden as “Sleepy Joe” – for falling asleep in court. Sean Hannity, a Fox News host, said on his radio show : “By the way, I think I’d fall asleep if I was there.” His colleague Laura Ingraham added: “I’d be falling asleep at that trial, too.”

Gertz observed: “ They’re basically making the case that actually it’s good to be unable to not nod off in the middle of your own trial. These are people who have spent the last several years attacking Joe Biden for supposedly being too old, too enfeebled to be president. They understand that their viewers, to the extent that they are interested in the trial at all, want to hear full-throated support for Donald Trump, and so they are finding ways to provide that.”

The trial has provoked fury on the far right and vows of retribution. Mike Davis, a lawyer and Trump ally, told Bannon’s War Room podcast that Democrats are “running a criminal conspiracy to violate the civil rights of President Trump” and promised to “rain hell on these Biden Democrats”. Davis warned: “I would say to these guys, lawyer up.”

Interviews with longstanding Trump supporters found the media-coverage split screen translates to one’s view of the trial. There is no sign that the airing of the charges that Trump falsified business records to cover up a hush-money payment is shifting opinions.

Steve Robinson, 75, an engineer and contractor from Leesburg, Virginia, is following the trial via the rightwing channels One America News Network and Newsmax and, occasionally, Fox News. “No CNN,” he said.

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Robinson commented: “The charges are made up and it’s a travesty of justice. It’s embarrassing for us as a country that’s happening when there is no evidence and there is no damage to anyone and it’s obviously a political witch-hunt. The leftists are enjoying it. ”

Lynette Kennedy McQuain, 63, an insurance salesperson from Lost Creek, West Virginia, said: “New York should spend their tax dollars on criminal behaviour, things that are going on in the city rather than trying to take down a former president. It’s not illegal to pay money to quiet something if you want to. ”

The current trial is seen as potentially the least serious of the four criminal cases against Trump but is likely to be the only one completed before the election. McQuain added: “It’s gotten to the place now where there’s so many trials that you wonder where it’s going to end.

“How many more trials are we going to put Donald Trump through? He’s a presidential candidate again. Come on, that’s a little crazy to me. The whole country sees it that way except a few left-leaning people who just want to get Trump. Judicially we’ve got a whole bunch of other things we could be fighting.”

Michael Sheppard, 42, a home builder from Canton, North Carolina, who has been following the trial “passingly” via the social media platform X, said: “I know the trial exists. I know the basics behind it but I really don’t care what they say .”

Sheppard believes that it is common practice to pay someone off out of court if the alternative would be more costly. He intends to vote for Trump in November but added: “I wish we had somebody right of Trump. Trump’s a centrist.”

Opinion polls have tightened in recent weeks with Biden closing the gap on Trump. It is uncertain what impact the trial will have on the election. The former president himself is thought unlikely to testify, but the court is likely to hear lurid, sordid details that even Trump’s allies in the media might find hard to resist. He is not out of danger yet.

Charlie Sykes , a political columnist and author of How the Right Lost Its Mind, said: “The danger of this trial for Trump and for the rightwing media is that many of the details are going to be quite salacious, quite dramatic and easily understood.

“People are going to understand a Playboy model saying ‘I had an affair’ as opposed to some of the more arcane things. It’s going to be interesting to see how the rightwing media covers it. Fox News are going to be torn between ‘this is pretty compelling material’ versus ‘it’s also pretty damaging’ .”

But the experience of the past eight years suggest that Trump’s base understand who he is and are willing to accept it, sexual peccadilloes and all. Sean Spicer , his first White House press secretary, said: “I would argue that after four years of Trump in office and almost four years of Biden, people have pretty much made up their mind who they’re with and this is largely going to be a get-out-the-vote-operation election.

“I don’t think anyone seeing anything right now on television or reading it online is somehow going to learn something new about Donald Trump.”

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Moscow Metro Tour

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Description

Moscow metro private tours.

• 2-hour tour $87:  10 Must-See Moscow Metro stations with hotel pick-up and drop-off
• 3-hour tour $137:  20 Must-See Moscow Metro stations with Russian lunch in beautifully-decorated Metro Diner + hotel pick-up and drop off. 
• Metro pass is included in the price of both tours.

Highlight of Metro Tour

• Visit 10 must-see stations of Moscow metro on 2-hr tour and 20 Metro stations on 3-hr tour, including grand Komsomolskaya station with its distinctive Baroque décor, aristocratic Mayakovskaya station with Soviet mosaics, legendary Revolution Square station with 72 bronze sculptures and more!
• Explore Museum of Moscow Metro and learn a ton of technical and historical facts;
• Listen to the secrets about the Metro-2, a secret line supposedly used by the government and KGB;
• Experience a selection of most striking features of Moscow Metro hidden from most tourists and even locals;
• Discover the underground treasure of Russian Soviet past – from mosaics to bronzes, paintings, marble arches, stained glass and even paleontological elements;
• Learn fun stories and myths about Coffee Ring, Zodiac signs of Moscow Metro and more;
• Admire Soviet-era architecture of pre- and post- World War II perious;
• Enjoy panoramic views of Sparrow Hills from Luzhniki Metro Bridge – MetroMost, the only station of Moscow Metro located over water and the highest station above ground level;
• If lucky, catch a unique «Aquarelle Train» – a wheeled picture gallery, brightly painted with images of peony, chrysanthemums, daisies, sunflowers and each car unit is unique;
• Become an expert at navigating the legendary Moscow Metro system;
• Have fun time with a very friendly local;
• + Atmospheric Metro lunch in Moscow’s the only Metro Diner (included in a 3-hr tour)

Hotel Pick-up

Metro stations:.

Komsomolskaya

Novoslobodskaya

Prospekt Mira

Belorusskaya

Mayakovskaya

Novokuznetskaya

Revolution Square

Sparrow Hills

+ for 3-hour tour

Victory Park

Slavic Boulevard

Vystavochnaya

Dostoevskaya

Elektrozavodskaya

Partizanskaya

Museum of Moscow Metro

• Drop-off  at your hotel, Novodevichy Convent, Sparrow Hills or any place you wish
• + Russian lunch  in Metro Diner with artistic metro-style interior for 3-hour tour

Fun facts from our Moscow Metro Tours:

From the very first days of its existence, the Moscow Metro was the object of civil defense, used as a bomb shelter, and designed as a defense for a possible attack on the Soviet Union.

At a depth of 50 to 120 meters lies the second, the coded system of Metro-2 of Moscow subway, which is equipped with everything you need, from food storage to the nuclear button.

According to some sources, the total length of Metro-2 reaches over 150 kilometers.

The Museum was opened on Sportivnaya metro station on November 6, 1967. It features the most interesting models of trains and stations.

Coffee Ring

The first scheme of Moscow Metro looked like a bunch of separate lines. Listen to a myth about Joseph Stalin and the main brown line of Moscow Metro.

Zodiac Metro

According to some astrologers, each of the 12 stops of the Moscow Ring Line corresponds to a particular sign of the zodiac and divides the city into astrological sector.

Astrologers believe that being in a particular zadiac sector of Moscow for a long time, you attract certain energy and events into your life.

Paleontological finds 

Red marble walls of some of the Metro stations hide in themselves petrified inhabitants of ancient seas. Try and find some!

• Every day each car in  Moscow metro passes  more than 600 km, which is the distance from Moscow to St. Petersburg.
• Moscow subway system is the  5th in the intensity  of use (after the subways of Beijing, Tokyo, Seoul and Shanghai).
• The interval in the movement of trains in rush hour is  90 seconds .

What you get:

• + A friend in Moscow.
• + Private & customized Moscow tour.
• + An exciting pastime, not just boring history lessons.
• + An authentic experience of local life.
• + Flexibility during the walking tour: changes can be made at any time to suit individual preferences.
• + Amazing deals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner in the very best cafes & restaurants. Discounts on weekdays (Mon-Fri).
• + A photo session amongst spectacular Moscow scenery that can be treasured for a lifetime.
• + Good value for souvenirs, taxis, and hotels.
• + Expert advice on what to do, where to go, and how to make the most of your time in Moscow.

Write your review

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Moscow Metro

The Moscow Metro Tour is included in most guided tours’ itineraries. Opened in 1935, under Stalin’s regime, the metro was not only meant to solve transport problems, but also was hailed as “a people’s palace”. Every station you will see during your Moscow metro tour looks like a palace room. There are bright paintings, mosaics, stained glass, bronze statues… Our Moscow metro tour includes the most impressive stations best architects and designers worked at - Ploshchad Revolutsii, Mayakovskaya, Komsomolskaya, Kievskaya, Novoslobodskaya and some others.

What is the kremlin in russia?

The guide will not only help you navigate the metro, but will also provide you with fascinating background tales for the images you see and a history of each station.

And there some stories to be told during the Moscow metro tour! The deepest station - Park Pobedy - is 84 metres under the ground with the world longest escalator of 140 meters. Parts of the so-called Metro-2, a secret strategic system of underground tunnels, was used for its construction.

During the Second World War the metro itself became a strategic asset: it was turned into the city's biggest bomb-shelter and one of the stations even became a library. 217 children were born here in 1941-1942! The metro is the most effective means of transport in the capital.

There are almost 200 stations 196 at the moment and trains run every 90 seconds! The guide of your Moscow metro tour can explain to you how to buy tickets and find your way if you plan to get around by yourself.

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Ukraine Dispatch

In Western Ukraine, a Community Wrestles With Patriotism or Survival

As the war drags on, communities that were steadfast in their commitment to the effort have been shaken by the unending violence on the front line.

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By Natalia Yermak

Photographs by Brendan Hoffman

Natalia Yermak visited the area of Khodoriv in western Ukraine in 2022, and again in March this year, to report this article.

It was sunset when Maj. Kyrylo Vyshyvany of the Ukrainian Army stepped into the yard of his childhood home in Duliby, a village in western Ukraine, just after his younger brother, also a soldier, had been buried. Their mother was still crying in the living room.

“I can already see that she’ll be coming to visit him every day,” he said that day.

He was right, but he would not be by her side. A few days after the funeral, in March 2022, he was killed in a Russian missile strike on a Ukrainian military base and buried next to his brother, Vasyl.

The Vyshyvany brothers were the first deaths from Duliby and the surrounding community after Russia began its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022. Since then, 44 more Ukrainian soldiers from the area have been killed — more than four times the local death toll from the previous eight years of fighting Russian-backed separatists in the east .

For Duliby and its surrounding enclave of Khodoriv — total population around 24,000 — waiting for the next solemn death notification and the funeral that follows has become a bitter routine. But even as the town meets and buries the fallen with modest ceremony, some neighbors are quietly weighing the price they are willing to pay for a war with no end in sight.

Divisions have started to form between residents agnostic about the war — often those whose family members have dodged the draft or fled the country — and those who have loved ones on the front line or who fully support the war effort.

In the earliest days of the war, before the news of the first combat deaths arrived, people in communities across Ukraine flocked to draft offices. Among them was Khodoriv, whose families have a long history of fighting for Ukraine’s independence and being executed or sent into exile during violent Soviet repressions of its nationalist movement in the last century.

In Duliby, the Russian invasion hit home early with the deaths of the Vyshyvany brothers. Suddenly, residents were burying soldiers whom most had known as lifelong neighbors.

“No one knew then how to do everything correctly,” said Natalia Bodnar, 41, the older sister of the Vyshyvany brothers. She arranged both her brothers’ funerals, she said, and even wrote the speeches for the priest.

As the war has ground on, the Khodoriv government has taken over the logistics of organizing funerals, and, inevitably, somber repetition has helped smooth the process. Public services have been moved to a central square, each time gathering crowds of people.

“Now everyone knows what kind of coffins, standards and what the procedure is,” Ms. Bodnar said from her apartment in Khodoriv last month.

Last fall, the deaths of locals mounted, and residents sought a visible commemoration of loss to go beyond the daily church services that drew dozens of faithful. So new memorial plaques of rock and bronze were hung on the outer walls of schools the killed soldiers had attended.

At those schools, people also honored the fallen with memorials of flowers and candles. But some parents complained that the offerings were too grim to look at and should be removed, said Olha Melnyk, 46, the head of the social services department in the Khodoriv administration. They were opposed to having their children reminded of the war happening hundreds of miles to the east.

Still, the makeshift altars have stayed put, and when the school the Vyshyvany brothers attended was renamed after them last fall, no one objected.

By 2023, the lines at draft offices across the country slowly disappeared as most volunteers had already gone to the front. New recruits were mostly summoned by draft notices given out in waves, based on the army’s needs, to men aged 27 to 60.

But gradually, the military has increased efforts to recruit soldiers, with some draft offices forcibly taking people from the streets to speed up the process. In the past six months, that tactic — widely known as forced mobilization — has frequently made headlines in Ukraine, symptomatic of the chronic troop shortage, which culminated this month in the government’s decision to lower the draft age in Ukraine to 25.

About 600 people from the Khodoriv community were serving in the army as of March, local authorities said, including over a dozen men from Duliby itself, some of whom were drafted from the streets. Men have since begun to avoid staying out during daylight, residents said.

“Everyone is afraid. No one wants to die,” said Bohdan, a school employee who declined to provide his surname for fear of repercussions from the Ukrainian authorities.

Petro Panat, the leader of the territorial defense unit, an ad hoc military unit formed in the early days of the war to protect local communities, said 10 out of 30 men from the unit had since obtained documents to legally exempt them from fighting. The exemptions are granted for reasons like health problems or relatives in need of care.

Anna Kukharaska, 66, who runs a volunteer group that collects donations to aid soldiers at the front, said, “There are lots of indifferent people.”

In the Khodoriv area, relatives of soldiers who are fighting or who have died at the front said that in the last two years they had begun to resent men in the community who are said to have bought their way out of service while their own sons and fathers are fighting — a feeling that may be shared by many across the country as the Ukrainian government wrestles with how to mobilize up to 500,000 more troops .

“Sometimes people want to devalue the sacrifice of such families to justify themselves buying their sons out,” said Marta Hladii, 51, a therapist from nearby Stryi who works with the military and their families for free. Of the five mothers spoken to by Ms. Hladii who had lost their only sons to the war, she said two were criticized by neighbors for not bribing their way out of the military to protect them.

There is no legal way to pay for an exemption from military service in Ukraine, but there have been widespread reports of corruption in draft offices, with bribes ranging from $1,000 early in the war — “a buyout from death” — to as much as the $10,000 per head price that was revealed in a Kyiv draft center. Some of the most prominent draft-related scandals caused the government to fire top military enlistment officers last August .

One of the most recent soldiers to be buried in Khodoriv showed up to the fight willingly.

As a child growing up in Khodoriv, a 9-year-old Nazar Yankevych attended the funeral of a local activist, Roman Tochyn, who was shot in the head during Ukraine’s Maidan revolution, the protests in 2014 that renounced pervasive Russian influence on Ukraine.

“After that funeral, he told our mom, ‘When I grow up, I’ll go to war,’” said his sister Maria Yankevych.

Her brother had been accepted to a technology training program just before Russia invaded but instead went to a military training camp, she said, and joined an elite assault unit.

Mr. Yankevych was 19 when he died in combat in February outside the eastern Ukrainian city of Avdiivka. The shrapnel piece that killed him left a mark on his temple, the same place as the bullet that hit his hero 10 years earlier.

“A lot of young guys from all over Ukraine wrote to me,” his sister said, after she posted about him on Instagram. They wrote, “‘Your brother is a hero to me, I want to be like him.’”