The opera house reopened, cafes were full and life felt back to normal until Sunday’s missile strikes

When the Kyiv opera house reopened in late May it was seen by many as the symbol of a return to normality after months of war, with the melodies of Rossini’s The Barber of Seville replacing the din of Russian artillery.

Around the same time local authorities relaxed the curfew hours, anti-tank roadblocks were moved aside and the main thoroughfare of Khreshchatyk Street was once buzzing again with busy cafes, businesses and bars. Oleksandr Litvin, a 23-year-old marketing manager, surveyed the weeks of calm and decided it was time to go back to his apartment in the central Shevchenkivskyi district, returning this weekend after months away.

Continue reading…

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You May Also Like

Number of would-be homebuyers falls to 8-month low as UK economic anxiety deepens

Survey of estate agents reports growing reluctance among potential homebuyers to make…

Star buys: celebrities send meteorite prices into orbit

Elon Musk, Steven Spielberg and Nicolas Cage among those who collect rocks…

Keir Starmer vows to clean up British politics after Tory sleaze rows

Labour leader plans to link reports of corruption and cronyism to effect…

Ministers set to ban single-use vapes in UK over child addiction fears

Government understood to have concluded the disposable nicotine products are mainly aimed…