This is the first question many ask me first as a Ukrainian: "But is your family in a safe place?" I have to smile ironically, knowing there is not one "completely safe space" in the country during the war.
I would say the element that creates most danger is the unpredictability of it all. Even if there are no missile attacks on Kyiv for weeks, people start worrying - is it a bad sign? Are they plotting something worse? Is there a risk of repeated invasion from the North?
You do excellent job citing that comparative statistics of the air raid siren frequency. Still, I even saw people suffering from phantom air raid sirens while living abroad. Oftentimes, the danger you live in messes up your head long-term...
Thanks. On the morning in question, Galochka grumbled that it'd been quiet for the last three weeks so we were probably going to get hit hard (I think everything got shot down that time), and a friend of a friend is permanently worried that Belarus is going to invade.
The most gripping and moving accounts of war are often about the mundane activities of citizens and, in this case, visitors. Thank you for revealing this, Anna.
This is the first question many ask me first as a Ukrainian: "But is your family in a safe place?" I have to smile ironically, knowing there is not one "completely safe space" in the country during the war.
I would say the element that creates most danger is the unpredictability of it all. Even if there are no missile attacks on Kyiv for weeks, people start worrying - is it a bad sign? Are they plotting something worse? Is there a risk of repeated invasion from the North?
You do excellent job citing that comparative statistics of the air raid siren frequency. Still, I even saw people suffering from phantom air raid sirens while living abroad. Oftentimes, the danger you live in messes up your head long-term...
Thanks. On the morning in question, Galochka grumbled that it'd been quiet for the last three weeks so we were probably going to get hit hard (I think everything got shot down that time), and a friend of a friend is permanently worried that Belarus is going to invade.
The most gripping and moving accounts of war are often about the mundane activities of citizens and, in this case, visitors. Thank you for revealing this, Anna.
***sigh***
and also ***damn***
Great post. Stay safe Anna!
Thanks! I'm sitting very safely and boringly in my flat at the moment, but it's true I'm planning a return.