2023-08-26 15:00:00
Deceptive normality
At first glance, life in the capital, Kiev, seems normal. But reality tells a different story.
(Photo: AP)
Kiev On the surface, normality seems to have returned to everyday life in Kiev. In the morning, people rush to work, many with coffee mugs in hand. The streets are full of cars, restaurants are often busy in the evening.
But if you pay attention to the details, you see a different story. Many buildings bear the marks of Russian shells. Monuments are barricaded with sandbags and the streets have been swept clean as the midnight curfew begins.
In restaurants, the guests chat about life, friends and work and discuss whether they liked “Barbie” or “Oppenheimer” better in the cinema or which concert offer appeals to them more.
But such conversations can suddenly devolve into stories about a loved one’s funeral, or accounts of where someone took shelter during the last missile attack, or how they changed their daily routine to still be able to work properly despite sleepless nights.
“Death has become a very common part of our lives,” says 29-year-old project manager Aiona Vyshnyzka, who lives in central Kiev. She tries to make herself comfortable in her rented apartment, buys small things and grows houseplants.
childhood in times of war
Disguised as a soldier, Artem Mihaylenko (7) stands with his mother on Independence Square in Kiev.
(Photo: AP)
Art of War
Selfie with a Banksy artwork: The building in Borodyanka was destroyed in a Russian attack.
(Photo: AP)
Vyshnyzka has gotten used to the fact that things keep falling off the window sill because of the detonation waves. If there are too many explosions at night, she gets migraines. But like millions of other people in the capital, she continues to work and “celebrates life in the breaks from war”.
Fear of eternal aggression
Vyshnytska fears that Russia’s aggression against Ukraine will go on forever, or at least for so long that it is incompatible with human life. She feels a feeling in the background “that life is simply being taken away from you, a life that should look completely different,” she says.
familyphoto
A family poses for a portrait at the Holy Cathedral in Kiev.
(Photo: AP)
View of the Dnieper
A man is reflected in a glass wall while photographing the Dnieper River in Kiev.
(Photo: AP)
In the second year of the Russian invasion, Kiev suffered less physical damage than in the first months of the war. The reinforced air defenses are now intercepting Russian drones and rockets, which are usually fired at the capital at night or in the early hours of the morning.
>> Read also: This is how Russian prisoners of war live in Ukraine
Anyone walking the streets of Kiev this summer will see signs of normality everywhere: a couple cuddling on a bench. Children playing in parks, bungee jumpers dangling over the Dnipro. A newly married couple dances to the music of street musicians.
Sporty balance
A man trains on equipment built from scrap metal. The “outdoor gym” named “Kachalka” opened in 1966.
(Photo: AP)
But you can read on the people’s faces that they don’t sleep enough because of the attacks, are exhausted by all the bad news and, above all, mourn.
The war cannot be suppressed
Olessia Kotubei says her partner serves at the front and her best friend has also joined the armed forces. That’s why she couldn’t suppress the war. When she turned 26 in early June, she went to a café in the city center with a friend and enjoyed her coffee in a courtyard among flowers and lush greenery and the view of St. Sophia Cathedral. But even in this picturesque environment, she was uncomfortable.
At a kiosk
People wait for their food at a stall in Kiev.
(Photo: AP)
break with the past
A Soviet emblem lies on the ground after being removed from the Motherland statue.
(Photo: AP)
At that time, the Ukrainian counter-offensive had just started and her loved one was serving in one of the attacking units. “You can’t influence things at a moment like this. You have to wait and see and keep your soul healthy not to go insane,” says Kotubei. A photo of her boyfriend is taped to the back of her cell phone. He also has one of hers on his cell phone, she says.
>> Read also: This is how people live in Kherson two months after the flood
The sirens wail as she speaks. Kotubei wearily takes note. Shortly thereafter, explosions shake the capital. “These missile attacks, coming as I’m trying to live a normal life, are particularly upsetting to me,” she says.
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