Slava Ukraini! Dispatches from Kyiv: Part One
Millions staff writer Il’ja Rakos and his family live in Kyiv, Ukraine. What follows are his Facebook posts from the ongoing Russian invasion, many of them written from a bomb shelter, reposted with his permission and the assistance of his friend Mark Slouka.
Feb. 23 at 6:24 a.m. EEST
We’ve heard massive explosions near Kyiv. Friends in Odessa (south), Kharkov (east) and Chernihiv (north) report the same. Last night, Putin gives a speech where he promises to “demilitarize” and “de-nazify” (sic) Ukraine.
He is insane (this is not a metaphor). The loss of life will be catastrophic should he press the attack.
Wherever you live in the western world, be aware: you will soon be hit with substantial cyber attacks and disinformation from arguably “reliable” news organizations and media. I have seen one recent, odd piece of 100% pure Russian propaganda from someone named Tucker Carlson. I don’t know who he is; it was deeply unsettling to see phrases spoken by an American newsman that we hear EVERY DAY from Russian sources who dream about “the glory of the USSR”.
Putin is chief among those who think the USSR needs to be restored.
He is acting on it this morning, 5 a.m. Kyiv time.
Feb. 23 at 6:49 a.m. EEST
An update: reliable Kyiv source says that the explosions here are Ukrainian anti-aircraft shooting at drones. No further explosions for about 45 minutes now – 6:45 a.m.
Feb. 24 at 7:07 a.m. EEST
Air raid sirens in Kyiv. More rumbling. Прогремели кононады as they’d say in these parts. Kyiv is short on bomb shelters.
Feb. 24 at 8:02 a.m. EEST
Feb. 24 8:26 a.m. EEST
Update: Russia is hitting military installations across the entire country including Lutsk and Ivano-Frankivsk in the far west. Attacks are tactical – I would interpret them as attempts to paralyze/panic the civilian population. We’ll see.
Final update, maybe for a while. Got bigger fish to fry: again,
