4. Ukraine: Last part

The trip I did is already starting to feel like a distant memory, so I will see what I can remember from the photos on my phone.

Took this photo from my 12 story hotel window one morning when I woke up from an explosion. Couldn't see where the strike had hit, just noticed that it would probably be another day without power.

People waiting in line to use the port a potty in the alley below, since the water pipes were out of service too. Along with the internet and phone service. The hotel I stayed at had a diesel generator though, which offered the luxury of a heated room.

Kyiv City Council. Commemorating the defenders of Mariupol and the destruction of the Crimean bridge.

Two soldiers on leave. These ones had all limbs intact, but during my time in Kyiv I saw several missing arms or legs, or sitting in wheel chairs. Heavyweight boxer and awesome human being Oleksandr Usyk is looking down from a tarp covering the remains of a burned out building. Don't know if it was hit by a missile.

Soviet styled 6 lane avenues crossing the entire city fills the air with a constant smog.

I was fascinated by the colors of the night, where the cars were going through a blackout city. During this time I made some failed attempts at selling freelance work, but I'm pretty glad that it didn't pan out. I had enough of the experience in just a couple of weeks. When people have asked how long time I spent in Ukraine, I have replied that I was there a month. But now when I look at my bus tickets I notice that it was just 2 weeks. I think your sense of time gets a bit warped when you are in that kind of conflict zone.

Kyiv normally has a population of 3,5 million people. No one knows for sure, but there are probably 5 million people living there now, due to people fleeing west from the war-torn east. You couldn't tell during the night curfew though. This photo is just around the corner from the Maidan square, and the only people out were some guys shovelling snow and the occasional police car going by.

Terminator statue west of Vyzjneve, were the shelter was. The place I volunteered at had lovely people and animals, but it didn't feel safe to stay at for other reasons that I can discuss at a later time.

Bleakness on a tray.

More dystopia.

Samsung Tower will probably be out of service for at least a while.

If you are thinking about getting a dog or cat and want to help out at the same time, then I can highly recommend to adopt one from the shelter. You would need to go to Poland to collect them though. All of them are vaccinated and treated for disease by the onsite veterinarian.

Border crossing to Poland.

I wouldn't recommend anyone to go on a journey to a war zone. Of course. But I am still glad I did. It enforced some beliefs, and dispelled others.

One of the biggest surprises was the sheer number of either ethnical russians, or people with russian as their main language that, that are currently living in Kyiv. None of them expressed any support for the invasion. None of them told about experiencing oppression in Ukraine. None of them had any notion to stop talking Russian and switch to Ukrainian, since they didn't feel like they need to. At least the russians I met.

Because I realize that my vision of the conflict is very limited, and that there is a long and complicated history. Ukrainians getting deported to Siberians gulags by the communist dictatorship during the Soviet union. State controlled genocide by starvation. Population replacement programs that has shifted the demographics all over eastern europe, creating Moscow-loyal lower class citizens in cities from Tallinn to Luhansk.

But I still can't shake the notion that Ukrainians and Russians are and should be two nations of brothers and sisters. In order to achieve this in reality, I see no other solution than a complete victory for Ukraine. I don't think any cost is high enough to achieve this goal. When someone breaks down your door to rape and kill your family, you fight them with everything you have at your disposal. If you have to do it alone, so be it. If someone helps you, even better.

Anyhow. I am glad to be back in Sweden. Today I celebrate a month of sobriety, and I will try to push it past my previous record of 34 days. It would be pretty nice if I can go for 100 days or more, but that remains to be seen.

I just started with muay thai again, for the first time in 7 years or so. It feels great to be back, and I want to see how far I can take it. But time is starting to run out. I don't want to regret at 50 that I didn't take the chance to compete in muay thai at 38 or 39, so let's make sure that 50 year old Daniel will have at least one fight to remember. Win or lose doesn't really matter.