dispatch from Ukraine

determined to keep living

A burned-out car sits on Mikhailivska Square, looking toward St Sophia’s Belltower, at night in Kyiv, Ukraine. The car and others like it, along with Russian tanks, dot gathering spots around Kyiv as a reminder of the war—both things lost and won.

I had the honor and privilege of traveling to Ukraine this past week.

I am still processing the tremendous amount of information and emotion jammed into those few short days, but I know I am in absolute awe of Ukraine and her people. 

Those that don’t follow Ukraine closely or know the country well understandably think the entire country is unsafe, being obliterated, cowering, cratered. I say understandably because what pushes its way onto the nightly news is the worst of the worst—Russia’s targeting of civilians, its destruction of cities. As anyone who has ever attended a media training or worked in journalism knows: “if it bleeds, it leads.”

But that is only part of the story of Ukraine today. 

Ukraine’s defiance, bravery, and resilience is what defines it.

I crossed the border from Poland by car, driving eight hours through western Ukraine to Kyiv. For as long as I’ve known it, Ukraine has always sported a palpable pride of place—blue and yellow fence posts, blue and yellow playground equipment—that has now become even more omnipresent. All along the highways, and even on little country back roads, you encounter displays of patriotism, from flags, to homemade signs, to more coordinated ad campaigns run by the government that say things like “the truth is our strength.” Probably about a third of cars have some sort of patriotic bumper sticker; many sport the iconic Snake Island defender’s quote: “Russian warship—go fuck yourself!” 

This effect is multiplied upon entering Kyiv. At any given moment, a quarter of people you pass on the street will be wearing some sort of visible patriotic gear—a t-shirt with Ukraine’s trident on it, or the slogan “Be Brave Like Ukraine,” or a traditional embroidered shirt. If you get closer to people, you’ll see that even those who aren’t loud about their patriotism have bits of it on their person; you might notice a bracelet with a charm in the shape of Ukraine, Ukrainian flag earrings, or a trident tattoo creeping out from under a shirt collar. 

The chocolate case at a popular bakery and cafe, Honey, includes chocolate anti-tank hedgehogs and chocolates in the shape of bomb-sniffing dog, Patron.

And then there is Kyiv herself. She is—despite everything she’s been through, from bombardments to blackouts—resplendent. People are out in restaurants, and the restaurants are excellent. They’re going to concerts. They are making music and dancing on the streets. They are living, and they are determined to do so to the fullest. 

The city herself is similar. It’s been nearly four years since I’ve visited, thanks to the pandemic and the full-scale invasion, so perhaps my memories have faded, but to me she was shining brighter than ever. Despite the threat of destruction, more buildings seem to have been restored, more streets have been repaved, more sidewalks have been redone (this, one friend said, was especially key during winter blackouts, when you couldn’t see where you were walking). 

This sort of sardonic humor is everywhere. Despite appearances in Kyiv, Ukraine is still a nation at war, and its people are traumatized, though they may make light of it or try not to show it. They have dealt with more sleep deprivation than parents of newborns, encountered Russian drones on the way to work, and weighed—on a regular basis—whether it is safer for them to stay in their apartment when the air raid alarm sounds, or to run outside to the nearest shelter. They know that while their life goes on, so many Ukrainians’ lives have been uprooted or ended, that Ukrainian cities like Bakhmut and Mariupol are being razed to the ground, that Ukrainian children are being kidnapped. This cognitive dissonance is a heavy cloak that all Ukrainians shoulder.

But they will keep on living, just as in their national anthem: Ukraine, her freedom, and her glory have not yet perished.