I am very interested in what daily life in Ukraine looks like now and have been reading all your blogs. I found Part 3 captivating and have the blog saved to reread and re-listen and rewatch.
Your journey has taken you away from Kyiv. What is life like in Kyiv as a comparison to all the front line towns that you are visiting? Are they more or less war weary? More or less able to flee if need be? More or less wanting to flee? What about Odessa? We heard about that a lot at the start of the war, but not so much now. Have you been there?
Hello Julius. Your road trip is a great idea and I hope you treading with the greatest caution. Two questions:
1. As someone who (I presume) speaks more Russian than Ukrainian, how do you find Ukrainians react when you open your mouth and speak Russian? Any changes since your last visit noticeable?
2. This may be an inappropriate question for someone on a road trip: there has been some criticism that the foreign press corps in Ukraine was for a long time too supportive of Zelensky, too gung-ho about the failed offensive over the summer, and too willing to hide the problem of corruption. What do you think? Meanwhile leaks from Washington DC in the US media have seemed determined to counter the media narrative and promote a 'Ukraine cannot win' line so as not to be forced by public opinion to provide Ukraine with the weapons when they are needed. So is the story one of antagonism between Ukraine-based correspondents and the Washington establishment?
As for the second question it's very difficult to answer. There certainly was, in hindsight, too much optimism about the Ukrainian counter-offensive last year. The reasons for its failure have been discussed to death: no air support, too much time for the Russians to prepare defensive lines, and possibly the Ukrainian decision to spread their bets rather than try and punch hard in one place. And now, certainly, the Russians are advancing, very slowly but steadily, along a number of axes. My personal feelings about Zelensky is that he did a good job under very hard circumstances when the war began. Nobody really expected him to become such a stalwart and inspirational leader or the Ukrainians to put up such a stout defence. But as time has gone by and Putin has doubled down time and again it has become increasingly difficult for the Ukrainians to hold the line. I think the big problem they have is not the lack of F16s and tanks but ammunition for their artillery and anti-air systems. And that, of course, is partly because of the $61 billion blocked by the US congress. So, yes, right now Russia would appear to have the upper hand. But just as predictions that the Russian military would collapse in late 2022 were premature, so it would be wrong to write off Ukraine now. They are slowly losing ground in the east but often only a few hundred metres a day. And the big thing they have going for them is that Russia has behaved so badly in territories it has seized, and that bad behaviour has been so well publicized, that most (though not all Ukrainians) are going to fight like hell to prevent that happening. As for long or even mid-term predictions I would certainly not want to make them. If Ukraine can survive the year without major territorial (and manpower) losses who knows what 2025 will bring.
Thanks for the modestly hopeful conclusion. I believe that the Russians think they can fight until the end of 2025 without running out of soldiers and weapons or collapsing the economy. So they are hoping for Trump and if he doesn't win, doubling down to undermine support for Ukraine in DC.
Hi Alan. Nice to hear from you. I'm sitting in the dark in Kharkiv. The Russians have been hitting power generation for the city and this has become all too common. To answer your question about using Russian: it is becoming more and more problematic. Even in a Russian-speaking city like this fewer and fewer people want to speak Russian. I asked a local about this only today and he said: "My mother tongue is Russian but even with my family I now speak Ukrainian. It is one of the ways we can resist." So, no, Russian is not particularly welcome. I am working without a translator and so what I usually do is try English and then switch to Russian. But then a second problem presents itself. The person I am speaking to understands me, but answers in Ukrainian, which I do not understand. Many of them don't do it just to make a point, they are just more used to speaking Ukrainian and so naturally switch. When I ask them to switch back, they often do for a minute or two, and then go back again to Ukrainian. I was up by the Russian border today in a badly smashed-up town in Sumy region. Of three people I spoke to I understood 80% of what one person said (they spoke mostly Russian), 50% of another who spoke a mix of Russian and Ukrainian, and about 20% of what a third person said (he was speaking some kind of heavy local 'surdzhyk' dialect mixed with country Ukrainian. So not easy!
HI Julius,
I am very interested in what daily life in Ukraine looks like now and have been reading all your blogs. I found Part 3 captivating and have the blog saved to reread and re-listen and rewatch.
Your journey has taken you away from Kyiv. What is life like in Kyiv as a comparison to all the front line towns that you are visiting? Are they more or less war weary? More or less able to flee if need be? More or less wanting to flee? What about Odessa? We heard about that a lot at the start of the war, but not so much now. Have you been there?
Many thanks,
Jeannie
OMG. Please be safe as possible! Thinking of you…..
Hello Julius. Your road trip is a great idea and I hope you treading with the greatest caution. Two questions:
1. As someone who (I presume) speaks more Russian than Ukrainian, how do you find Ukrainians react when you open your mouth and speak Russian? Any changes since your last visit noticeable?
2. This may be an inappropriate question for someone on a road trip: there has been some criticism that the foreign press corps in Ukraine was for a long time too supportive of Zelensky, too gung-ho about the failed offensive over the summer, and too willing to hide the problem of corruption. What do you think? Meanwhile leaks from Washington DC in the US media have seemed determined to counter the media narrative and promote a 'Ukraine cannot win' line so as not to be forced by public opinion to provide Ukraine with the weapons when they are needed. So is the story one of antagonism between Ukraine-based correspondents and the Washington establishment?
As for the second question it's very difficult to answer. There certainly was, in hindsight, too much optimism about the Ukrainian counter-offensive last year. The reasons for its failure have been discussed to death: no air support, too much time for the Russians to prepare defensive lines, and possibly the Ukrainian decision to spread their bets rather than try and punch hard in one place. And now, certainly, the Russians are advancing, very slowly but steadily, along a number of axes. My personal feelings about Zelensky is that he did a good job under very hard circumstances when the war began. Nobody really expected him to become such a stalwart and inspirational leader or the Ukrainians to put up such a stout defence. But as time has gone by and Putin has doubled down time and again it has become increasingly difficult for the Ukrainians to hold the line. I think the big problem they have is not the lack of F16s and tanks but ammunition for their artillery and anti-air systems. And that, of course, is partly because of the $61 billion blocked by the US congress. So, yes, right now Russia would appear to have the upper hand. But just as predictions that the Russian military would collapse in late 2022 were premature, so it would be wrong to write off Ukraine now. They are slowly losing ground in the east but often only a few hundred metres a day. And the big thing they have going for them is that Russia has behaved so badly in territories it has seized, and that bad behaviour has been so well publicized, that most (though not all Ukrainians) are going to fight like hell to prevent that happening. As for long or even mid-term predictions I would certainly not want to make them. If Ukraine can survive the year without major territorial (and manpower) losses who knows what 2025 will bring.
Thanks for the modestly hopeful conclusion. I believe that the Russians think they can fight until the end of 2025 without running out of soldiers and weapons or collapsing the economy. So they are hoping for Trump and if he doesn't win, doubling down to undermine support for Ukraine in DC.
Hi Alan. Nice to hear from you. I'm sitting in the dark in Kharkiv. The Russians have been hitting power generation for the city and this has become all too common. To answer your question about using Russian: it is becoming more and more problematic. Even in a Russian-speaking city like this fewer and fewer people want to speak Russian. I asked a local about this only today and he said: "My mother tongue is Russian but even with my family I now speak Ukrainian. It is one of the ways we can resist." So, no, Russian is not particularly welcome. I am working without a translator and so what I usually do is try English and then switch to Russian. But then a second problem presents itself. The person I am speaking to understands me, but answers in Ukrainian, which I do not understand. Many of them don't do it just to make a point, they are just more used to speaking Ukrainian and so naturally switch. When I ask them to switch back, they often do for a minute or two, and then go back again to Ukrainian. I was up by the Russian border today in a badly smashed-up town in Sumy region. Of three people I spoke to I understood 80% of what one person said (they spoke mostly Russian), 50% of another who spoke a mix of Russian and Ukrainian, and about 20% of what a third person said (he was speaking some kind of heavy local 'surdzhyk' dialect mixed with country Ukrainian. So not easy!