I just ordered a cappuccino with a sandwich in a hip bakery. The room is fairly full, the buzz in the background is familiar to me, there is chatter. How ordinary can life be? But when you are in Kiev, everything is different. The threat of war gives the custom a special meaning. Under tension, even buzz takes on a certain charge.
The shops are open, the metro runs in circles and the streets are fairly busy. But by the yardstick of the threat of war, the habit of the Kiev corridor collapses. Where I pay close attention or ask further questions, a key question arises. To pack or not to pack? Many families struggle with it.
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Aleksandr has already taken his wife and child to the countryside. He has returned to the capital to ‘defend Ukraine’. He has an arsenal of weapons at his disposal at home. I often hear this scenario around me. Optimism always thrives under the threat of war. The fear and doubt only come when you see blood flowing with your own eyes. Aleksandr now knows what to expect after three years at the front in Eastern Ukraine. Yet he sees no other choice. “What would you do, Jeroen? If the Germans were massively and threateningly in front of the Dutch border?”
Vova has an argument with his wife, a journalist. He wants to take their child to Grandma far from Kiev for safety reasons, but she is completely against it. It would show panic. According to her, there will be no invasion at all in Kiev, so the family does not have to be torn apart in advance, for nothing. Vova is at her wits’ end. It is still peace, but the threat of war is already gnawing his paws out from under his family.
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Vova still has a choice. But if a Kiev resident has no relatives elsewhere in the country, he is forced to sit out the threat of war at home. Then you can do two things. All day long brooding over scenarios presented by people of war or peace. Or just make the best of it. There is a certain determination in the air, which seems to be growing stronger as Russian troops get closer. No independent country is served by occupiers, Ukraine is no exception.
For the time being, confidence predominates in the next minute, the next hour and perhaps tomorrow as well. I pay for my pleasant lunch digitally with a code on the table. I only notice the convenience because I am used to paying as much cash as possible in Berlin. Customers and middle class prefer not to trust the bank. Confidence in Ukraine remains intact, despite the recent cyber attacks on a number of banks. I don’t see anyone hoarding toilet paper or money. The lines for supermarkets and ATMs will be longer in Berlin than in Kiev.
Nor have I yet seen a civilian take a look at the air-raid shelter as a precaution. The cellars can be found all over the city, but I’ve only seen fellow journalists knocking on the door. It says something if the stories show that most ‘official’ shelters are inaccessible; there is no key, the cellar has been re-purposed or the address is unknown. The need for an escape route is not that urgent, at least today.
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Moscow agrees. Putin still insists there will be no invasion by his troops. Warnings from the West that Russian soldiers could cross the border at any moment are laughably dismissed as nonsense. Haha, look at that panic there. Bunch of slackers. But I’d rather be belittled than shot. We are not sure and journalists, like diplomats, always have the luxury of choice. In collaboration with the editors, it was decided to move to Western Ukraine for the time being. In Lviv, on the border with Poland, it could be a bit safer. Should Kiev be taken in by Russian troops, as British Prime Minister Johnson warned, I could also report on it from Lviv. Sometimes logistics rush ahead of journalism.
Dima also packs his things, albeit in a month’s time. For good, because he takes a plane to America to build a new future with his family. He can get a job in the marketing department at a transport company of Ukrainian friends. We have traveled a lot together in the past and became good friends. Dima has had enough. “Our child just has to go to a good school and that is priceless here.” “And the threat of war?” I try. “I’m more concerned about corruption in Ukraine,” Dima said. “It eats everything we build to pieces.”
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