i'm in kyiv for the week for the first time in 4 years.
russia launched 300+ drones at ukraine last night over the course of 5 hours; one of the biggest attacks of the war so far. the explosions were constant, some of them so close that our building was shaking from the impact. i could hear the buzzing of the shaheds overhead; normally, russia sends around 5-7 of these drones to kyiv every night, but last night, it was around 40. by the time the sun came up, the cloud of smoke that hung over kyiv was so dark that you couldn't see the sky.
but being pulled out of bed at 2 am under threat of ballistics and drone attacks has been an average experience for ukrainians for over 3 years now. they're used to it, they say "I'm from sumy/zaporozhzhia/kramatorsk, this is nothing". it doesn't matter if they're tired or they've been bombed out of their homes, they still have to get up and go to work or school or run errands and do all the things that make their country function while russia tries to grind it down by turning their peaceful skies into fire.
don't forget about them. don't forget about what's happening here in ukraine.










