In Kyiv, on the left bank of the Dnepr River, in the eastern part of the Ukrainian capital, is the Poznyak district. Locals relax there, taking advantage of the daylight hours. But by nightfall, due to Russia’s attacks on energy infrastructure in recent weeks, it will likely be pitch dark with no lights.
The renovated house in the Pozniak district of Kiev Photo: Gints Amoliņš / LTV
Even less than ten months ago, during the first days of the Russian invasion, it was tough there. During a meeting with Ukrainian political scientist Dmytro Levus from Kiev, he showed a skyscraper, part of which has just been renovated, with a loggia in shades of orange and purple. There, on the second night of the war, a rocket fell on the house.
“The house was on fire, a hole was dug in front of it. Now the house has already been restored. Apparently, a downed rocket had fallen there, so the explosion was not at full power. However, the house was very badly damaged. There is a lake nearby, and if the rocket had fallen about 100 meters away, then nothing would have happened. But the house suffered greatly. There were casualties. But, you see, almost everything is already been fixed.
However, the war continues. We understand that it’s not over, there will be other victims.
We see that for Russia, bombing the infrastructure of Ukraine, terrorizing the population of Ukraine is one of their methods of warfare. And here we could make sure of it from the very beginning” Levus said.
When the invasion began, Dmytro Levus did not run away. Both when Russia besieged Kiev and now – with the constant rocket and drone attacks – he has been here all these months.
“Life in Kiev is hard now, because there are problems with electricity supply, there are outages due to Russian attacks on critical infrastructure. However, I would not say that their calculation, that because of this the Ukrainians will get tired and lost the will, it came true This calculation did not come true (..) When the first mass attacks of Iranian drones began, we saw them too, and even the work of the Ukrainian air defenses was visible.
And I speak now as a simple resident of Kiev – we are very grateful to the work of the air defense system of Ukraine.
It demonstrates simply miraculous efficacy,” Levus said.
However, anti-aircraft defense systems and other armaments are still required for comprehensive protection. That’s one of the things Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy discussed in Washington this week during his first foreign visit since February.
“First of all, it is a strong signal to Russia that the United States is staying with Ukraine and aid will only increase. Secondly, in addition to the meeting with President Biden Zelenskiy, there was a speech at the Congress of the United States. This shows that the both sides continue, “commented the political scientist.
Meanwhile, it’s pre-Christmas time in Ukraine too. And in response to the invasion, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchate marks a paradigm shift by announcing that its members will be able to celebrate Christmas on the customary January 7 or December 25 this year. Thus marking the way to new changes.
“In other words, God makes no difference when he is honored and how the holiday takes place. But, of course, December 25th would be more correct. For example, in Romania they celebrate December 25th. And because of this they do not become less Orthodox. In Greece, there are people who celebrate December 25, January 7 is celebrated.And of course, it is also one of the things that separates us from this massif of the “Russian world. Our path, which has now begun. And the The Ukrainian Orthodox Church in this sense has given us the freedom to choose and will allow us to see how people will react,” explained Dmytro Levus.
The political scientist outlined the changes that occurred in society as a whole during these months of war: “In my opinion, Ukrainian society as a whole has grown. It has become very mature. Also because there are no longer any illusions about the nation that we once called fraternal Secondly, society has mobilized and the tiredness is not as great as it could have been. And thirdly, we don’t realize it yet, but we are actually traumatized. It’s still going to come out, we’ll still have to deal with it.”
At the same time, he stressed that Ukrainian society managed to mobilize to survive, as he puts it, a real war of independence. “By considering how we are seen in the world, how we are helped and how we have changed ourselves, we will overcome these challenges. The key is to win,” said Levus.
Undoubtedly there will still be many difficulties, but in Ukraine there is still faith in the defeat of the enemy, in regaining freedom and victory.
