Two weeks ago, Ukraine’s capital and its satellite towns were buzzing with life. Now it’s a ghost city where solidarity is helping us survive
As I write these lines in Kyiv, my window panes are shaking to the booms of air defence guns intercepting Russian aircraft over the city. On Monday night, the Ukrainian military reported two airplanes had been downed.
What happened to the city still feels like an old movie. Two weeks ago our streets were buzzing with joy, cafes and shops were full, street singers were singing and young people were dancing outside the Khreshchatyk subway station. Now it is a ghost city, a mix of London during the blitz and something from futuristic post-apocalyptic fiction.
Illia Ponomarenko is the defence and security correspondent for the Kyiv Independent