This was just a week after Kherson, a major port city in southern Ukraine, had been liberated from Russian occupation. On November 15, I was in Lviv, a western city in Ukraine. “Slava Ukraini” (“Glory to Ukraine”) and “Brave Like Ukraine” reflect the country’s desire to preserve the independence it achieved 30 years ago. This everyday resilience is a modern-day instantiation of London during the Blitz, when the British government coined the phrases ”keep calm and carry on” and “business as usual” to boost morale through bombardment from Nazi Germany. The damages of the war have become an everyday part of Ukrainian life. They live in a strange limbo - hiding from missile attacks and going shopping for new clothes just hours afterward.īuildings destroyed by Russian bombing in Kyiv, Ukraine. Amid intermittent attacks, Ukrainians still go to work or on first dates, meet for coffee, dance at underground raves, throw kids’ birthday parties, and then come home, often, to no heat or light. While the news cycle shows daily scenes of bombed buildings and lives lost, what isn’t seen is what happens between the dramatic moments - when life just goes on. Millions of Ukrainians are without heat and hot water during a winter in which, as many feared, Russia destroyed critical infrastructure.
Since Russia began its invasion nine months ago, more than 6,800 civilians have been killed and 7.8 million people displaced. In Ukraine, the chaos of war has become a daily occurrence. Outside, the sky was orange, and smoke filled the surrounding streets. Servers brought out a cake for the little girl, three women sat at a table with cocktails, and at another, a man hunched over his laptop, perhaps making up for lost time at work. No one seemed rattled by the recent attacks that had just occurred.
The electricity was on, and the restaurant was calm. Hours after Russia bombarded cities throughout Ukraine with 70 missile attacks on November 23 that left at least 10 people dead, a family in Kyiv sang happy birthday to a little girl in a pizza restaurant.
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