Here in Kyiv I could see the morning sun and high clouds from my seventh floor apartment window. I took the opportunity to get out early and walk to the grocery store adjacent to the bus station.
After time, people get inured to the air raid sirens, the reports of civilian deaths and bombings. But behind that facade of daily life, in the background, everyone has an attentive ear that is piqued when Russian president Vladimir Putin uses phrases like ‘nuclear weapons’ and ‘I am not bluffing’. They have become refugees in their own country. They are mostly women and children; the younger men are noticeably absent in these groups. Men under 60 are not allowed to leave the country.
The recent sabotage of the Nordstream I and II natural gas pipelines, the mobilization of 300,000 Russians, Chechnyan influence and Ukraine asking for fast tracked NATO membership have all added layers of complexity to this high stakes game. But looming over it all is Putin holding a preemptive nuclear strike trump card to World War III.
Walking amongst the clean up operation there were bomb craters, piles of twisted metal and charred shop goods. Buildings were scorched, their windows streaked upwards by black soot looking like Amy Winehouse’s black eyeliner. Taking the return subway journey I got out early and walked around the city centre. I wandered in Freedom Square and the nearby park where Russian paratroopers landed on March 2. This triggered small arms battles within the city. I saw the evidence of this as shop doors boarded up with multiple bullet holes in their windows and walls.
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