Hello, I wrote a diary before this all started about my connection to Kyiv where I met my partner in 2017. She is safe with me now in Spain (as told in the other diary as well) but her life is in a sea of emotions, chaos and depths of feelings that are impossible to imagine even sitting next to her and trying to do my best for her. In the last diary I explained that her sister, mother, brother in law and niece were trying to get out of Kiev but believed they were stuck because they wanted to bring their dog (It was a few days before the invasion started). The happiest part of this diary is that they actually got out on one of the last flights and were able to get to safety in a non-European country that didn’t have strict dog passport requirements. I am incredibly thankful for that and we feel blessed in that regard. I simply can’t imagine how my partner would feel if they were stuck in Kiev. Their home is 25 minutes outside the center but it’s near a military base and a neighbor told them that shrapnel from something big landed within 100 meters of their townhouse.
Still however, they have no idea where to go, what to do. Her sister and brother and law are English speakers and his job in IT is still working thankfully but her mother has vacationed outside of Ukraine but her whole life has been there and now they are effectively nowhere. The five year old is lucky that she isn’t being traumatized by bombing and shelling but she is confused and out of place. She knows she isn’t on vacation. What do you tell or not tell a five year old girl about the idea that they may not be back in their home for god knows how long? All of the things that meant anything in her little girl mind are now gone and she is in a world where the adults themselves are swimming just to keep themselves making decisions.
Worse though, most of my partner’s clients are in Kiev. She works with them remote and literally none of them believed it would happen and now they are trapped and living with air raid sirens, explosions and sleeping in metro stations scared if their apartment will be intact when they come out. I’ve heard people on the phone crying and in stressed voices asking her for opinions or help that she can’t give and has no good answer for.
One of her closest friends who is a 32 year old attorney decided to flee on the second day in a car with only the things she could pack in a couple of bags. During the drive which took twice as many hours as it normally would she was on the phone detailing the harrowing process of navigating military road blocks and passing through waves of fresh destruction like a war movie but in real life. Luckily as well she made it to the Polish border. Now she’s a refugee. She was working at a law firm until last week. She’s fluent in English and she is highly educated but has never lived anywhere outside of Ukraine aside for vacations.
I don’t know what else to write for the moment and so I will give the resources for anyone who is interested in finding information closer to the source.
I know that people are watching closely and I also know that the reporting here has been particularly well assembled but I have found a few resources because I am directly connected to the information sources which are coming in Ukrainian language (which Olga translates for me), some in Russian but, she was able to surface some verified real time content that you can connect with if you are interested in seeing some up to the minute information. The situation is moving so quickly it seems like not being connected to these streams would leave out important pieces until far later — on the other hand maybe I am so connected to it that it feels important to know what is going on with less of a time window.
The following one uses the Messaging software Viber. It’s the most popular messaging app in Ukraine. It’s like Whatsapp but more popular in Ukraine. It’s a download from the App store and then you can access this feed. The curators of this feed are hoping to bring awareness via real stories and updates. It’s also a whole lot more chronological than Twitter is. First download Viber from the app store on IOS or Android, create an account and then use this invite link below.
https://invite.viber.com/?g2=AQAWz4SlOONejk7O3GfzWu%2FnBdXEi%2BJ6kFOqKneY6Xfmx3vjo%2FDyGeS8eV%2B1k2WZ
Honestly that is the quickest and most powerful stream of information in English that I have found but also a couple of others —
www.kyivpost.com — The Kyiv Post is an English Language news site with a long history (I think it’s the oldest English language news in Ukraine). It’s 100% trustworthy and a lot more real-time than any American media is.
kyivindependent.com — I just found this site recently but they are doing an excellent job of faster reporting than the Post and fact checking as much as possible. I haven’t seen them retract a story yet in this.
Back to the emotions of this for a few before I close it. I can’t emphasize enough how brutal and shocking this is. I feel at times when discussing it that there is definitely a “classist” feel in this for me. Why should it make a difference that the city of Kyiv felt cosmopolitan and that the people are educated and modern vs. let’s say somewhere in Iraq or Syria and I know that the answer is that it definitely should make zero difference but there is just something about seeing a place where I spent time, where people I love lived until a few days ago and now can’t go back turned into rubble like pictures of World War Two that makes it just unexplainably real. It’s heartbreaking and confusing and I just wish I could explain to people that
--— These people are kind of different from you …. but really, they aren’t and really, this could somehow be you, and really there are millions of little kids who were on the path to having normal lives in a Democratic country in the year 2020 who are now war scarred for life.
So now I’m straight up rambling but what writing that last paragraph made me feel the need to throw in is this — The elected Democrats and our absolutely deficient center media need to wake up to how this happened and see that one party is factually aligned with this nightmare.
I read Ria News in Russian and I have for months because it’s a good tool to learn Russian language and I’m at a level in my language that I can understand it but I’ve known from the beginning it was a false information source.
Watching Fox News now I realize just how insanely dangerous it is to let them steer a conversation anywhere. How insanely dangerous it is to allow the lie the Mueller Exonerated Trump when it did the opposite even exist without being called out every single time.
And then allowing for Trump not to be charged with SOMETHING, anything. To allow the Party of Putin to be building strength and force and This — this is where it leads eventually unblocked.
I will end this rambling diary with a story that made me literally cry. Even in the midst of all of this, this one story really got to me. This is what’s going on in Ukraine — it’s a story from the Kiev post about an adorable 7 year old with pink hair who was ruthless gunned down by Russian attackers. It brings the human face to this nightmare.
www.kyivpost.com/…
Ok, I’m out of energy for the diary. Writing actually helps me channel my brain but I’ve run out of steam. Thanks for reading. If anyone has questions about any of this I will continue in the comments. Please forgive my fragmented thinking here.