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Letters from Ukraine. I saw the war

Letters from Ukraine. I saw the war

May 17, 2023

Hi!

While I am starting this letter, russians are bombing Odesa. A breath. Another one. Everything will be fine. Our air defense men are gods.

What do I feel in the moments of attacks on my country? It depends. Anger, helplessness, tiredness... you name it.

Today I had a meeting in Podil. Podil is an old part of Kyiv. Really worth visiting when you come here. Old buildings, red trams, cozy cafes. Highly recommend coming in spring or summer. You will fall in love with it for sure.

I had #warcoffee and looked at the people. We are keeping strong. It's already a daily routine for us: live fully during the day and wait for missiles or drones in the evening/night.

So when a visitor comes to Kyiv these days, they will say:

- It looks pretty normal. These people go to work, have coffee/lunch/love...

...till the evening come, or the siren will cry desperately, or the person will be kindly asked to leave the mall/store and find the nearest shelter.

I feel that you need a picture from Podil again. Do you?

I checked the alerts channel. The threat to Odesa is over. A relief.

It seems that I live with these channels. They're like members of my family. The Telegram channel with alerts over Ukraine, the one with alerts and news in Kyiv, and the channel with routes of missiles/drones and other ru staff.

The other day (May 15), I read that the total duration of air raid alerts in Kyiv reached 858 hours and 54 minutes. Can you imagine? I don't know what we will be like after the war. War-torn generation? Silver-headed people with deep wounds in their hearts? who:

- I saw the war, babe. I will tell you what it is.

A picture? Okok.

Let's get back to reality. A few words about my meeting: I was asked to write my war diary for some good newsletter (it's here; I'm happy to share). Probably, I will refuse. Too many war diaries in my life already. Too much war.

  • Twitter

  • Letters from Ukraine in my blog (a war diary in English)

  • War diary in Ukrainian (let me check how many words are in it already, I'll be back in a sec; 83 765 words. It's different from an English diary, as I write it daily from the first day of the full-scale war).

Also, I have a nobook (the book that shouldn't have been written). I write it daily (ok, almost daily, sometimes I'm lazy or too tired). It's fiction.

I need a picture.

A few words about the pictures. My Instagram page is growing. It's strange, but I love publishing Stories and photos there. If you follow my Instagram, please, say a word about how it is for you. And also, later today, I will add more pictures from Podil there. At last, I have a place for all of them.

... Air raid alert in Kyiv. The siren is crying. 11:23 pm. It's not a great ending to the letter. But very realistic. Soon I'll be writing you letters at night. We will forget how to sleep. Ok. I will keep monitoring Telegram channels. I have read something is on its way to Kyiv.

Hugs from Ukraine, which doesn't sleep,
Yara (or Yaroslava)

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