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Kyiv or bust

Kyiv or bust


out at 5.30am for an early boost across the border to Lviv

driven by SvL who used to work in events and marketing and now volunteers to drive between Poland and Ukraine, every day, taking over essential supplies

swopped vehicles and met Ukranian WEP colleagues ST and N, loaded up with kit and the 5 off us (including me, mark and Luca) crammed into ST's car and drove another 600km to Kyiv

fortunately ST's car is dual fuel and can run on LPG (gas) because there is almost no petrol and if you can find some to queue for, you can only get 10ltrs

we HAVE to make it to Kyiv before 10pm curfew

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had not appreciated how between the cities, Ukraine is endless fields and forests

it's beautiful

ukraine is the 4th largest producer of the wheat in the world

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stopped 25km west of Kyiv to photograph some of the devastation in the Makaribs-kyi district


where there was fierce fighting and the Ukrainians managed to fuck up and turn the Russians around

Artem aged 13 and Dennis aged 9 are playing on this blown out Russian tank, that 3 weeks ago was full of russian soldiers on their way to take Kyiv

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all down both sides of the street almost all the shops and buildings are destroyed

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Kyiv is MUCH bigger than you could realise from watching tv news

the inner city is very charming: it has a Parisian feel: some cobbled streets, European architecture

there WOULD be outside seating for the cafes

but Kyiv is quite empty

the outside of Kyiv has vast sprawling blocks of modern flats

we manage to cross Kyiv, navigating slowly through roadside passport checks and roadblocks and make it to the doctor's house who is hosting us tonight, in the countryside to the east of Kyiv

just a few weeks ago, all the villages surrounding his were occupied by Russian soldiers

he cooks us some amazing home cooked Ukrainian food: varnyky (potatoe and mushroom dumplings with pork) and marinated finest fresh white mushrooms his mother had picked from the forest.



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