From Yahoo:
“Ukrainians start to grapple
with warnings that a Russian invasion is imminent”
Fearing that a Russian invasion
of Ukraine is imminent, the U.S. State Department on Sunday ordered all
nonessential personnel at its embassy in Kyiv to evacuate immediately and
recommended that all U.S. citizens leave the country. The U.K. government, meanwhile,
warned on Sunday that Russian forces are trying to overthrow Ukrainian
President Volodymyr Zelensky and install a pro-Putin puppet. Adding to the
100,000 Russian troops already amassed along the border between Ukraine and
Russia, thousands more Russian fighters and tanks are arriving in Belarus,
Ukraine’s northern neighbor, for military exercises with the Belarussian army.
Analysts warn that those military exercises are exactly how an invasion of
Ukraine might start, and the new thinking among strategists is that Kyiv, which
lies a mere 60 miles south of the border with Belarus, could be the target. Nevertheless,
restaurants in the Ukrainian capital are full, nightlife venues are hopping,
parties are in full swing and malls are bustling with weekend shoppers. “Clubs
are open, programs and lineups are planned for the whole next season,” said
Alisa Mullen, CEO at Strela Booking Agency, told Yahoo News. “Everything will
stop only if there is a really serious threat,” and most people she knows
“believe that under no circumstances will hostilities take place in Kyiv.” Artur
Mas, PR manager at Dontstop Agency, concurs. “The fairs, the plays, the
nightlife continues,” he said. “Life goes on as usual, just with some COVID
restrictions.”
Yet for a growing number of Kyiv
residents, emergency backpacks with crucial documents, warm clothes and medical
supplies are being stashed at their front doors in case of a sudden attack.
Sober talks are taking place with families and friends mapping out possible
getaway options — whether to the homes of relatives in Europe or to towns
located in the Western portion of the country, where Russian troops don’t yet
pose an immediate threat. Lines are appearing at ATMs. International companies,
like Japan Tobacco, are sending their employees home and editorial boards of
newspapers are beefing up their cybersecurity and discussing how to stay safe
and report on the war should Russia invade, which, according to the U.S., is an
increasingly likely scenario. “We can’t imagine it exactly,” said Anna
Babinets, regional editor for the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting
Project. “Will we have phones or the internet? Will we even have electricity?” Babinets,
her family and co-workers are heeding the warnings coming from the U.S. that a
Russian invasion may be imminent, and they increasingly believe that Kyiv
itself with be a prime Russian target, contrary to earlier assessments that
Putin’s goal might be to expand in the east or the terrain around the Crimean
Peninsula in the south, which has been Russian-occupied for nearly eight years.
“It’s looking very dangerous to us,” she said. “We understand that for Putin to
control Ukraine, it’s not about seizing new regions, it’s not about enlarging
the Donbas territories in the East” where, since 2014, proxy fighters have been
fighting a civil war that’s killed 14,000. “Now they want to control Kyiv.”
It’s an idea not shared by many in the capital, she concedes. “There aren’t a
lot of people who are preparing or who think an invasion is even possible.”
People form a human chain
(People celebrate the Day of
Unity in Kyiv on Saturday.)
Recovering from COVID, Kseniya
Kharchenko, who works in book production at a Kyiv publishing house, became
seriously worried about the safety of staying in the capital on Jan. 10, when
bomb threats started being called into schools in Kyiv. Nearly 200 threats have
been made across Ukraine in just the past two weeks, causing evacuations,
school closures and trauma among students and teachers. No explosive devices
have yet been found, and Kharchenko said that news reports indicate that the
IPs on those emailed messages are coming from Russia. She believes the threats
are Russian mind games designed to keep Ukrainians on edge. And while she is
not panicked, she is wondering if she should leave and worried about how COVID
restrictions may affect her ability to evacuate. “I have a car, an apartment, I
have my parents, my kid, my ex-husband — I have everything here,” she said. “So
if I leave now, and then nothing happens, what will I find when I return? But
if I stay here and something happens, then I might die.” “That’s the main question
— how do we know when to leave?” she added. “Because when it’s obvious it’s
time to leave, all the borders may already be closed, no aircrafts operating,
no cellphone connections. So when is the right time to leave, right now?”
(Members of Ukraine's Territorial
Defense Forces train in a city park in Kyiv on Saturday.)
Until last weekend 30-something
copywriter Maria Ivanova, who asked that her real name not be used for this
article, had every intention of staying put in Kyiv. The cyberattack that took
down 70 government sites two weeks ago was disturbing, but she didn’t worry too
much. Even when the Ukrainian government in December called women engineers and
medics to register for the draft, she wasn’t anxious. The Russian troops all
but encircling Ukraine for months at first didn’t faze her. “We’ve all gotten
used to [threats from Russia] because they’ve been going on for eight years,”
she said. But the arrival of tons of arms and anti-armor weapons, Javelins and
Stingers — from the U.S., the U.K. and several European NATO countries made her
rethink her plans in the past few days. “The amount of weapons coming from the
West to help Ukraine made me think this is serious.” Moved-up NATO exercises
soon to start in the Baltic region and the Black Sea have only added to that
anxiety.
(Equipment bound for Ukraine is
prepared at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on Friday.)
Like many residents of Kyiv,
Ivanova is debating her options. She’s considered heading to the Carpathian
Mountains in the west of Ukraine, or leaving the country altogether. “Staying
in Kyiv,” she explained, “it's not for the best option for me. If something
happens here, like heavy bombarding, I don’t feel that I will survive
personally in these conditions.” She wonders about the thousands of World War
II-era bomb shelters across the city, as the government has done little but to
show where they are located on a map. “Are they equipped? Are they even open?
Who holds the keys?” she asked. This weekend, Ivanova settled on a plan,
purchasing a ticket to fly to Spain on Jan. 31. If she’s able to get out before
Russia rolls in, she plans to stay there for a month, until the situation in
Ukraine cools down. But others aren’t at all ready to make that leap. “I don’t
follow the news,” said singer/musician Ira Kushenko, explaining that it makes
her too nervous. “I decided not to spoil my mood, since this is politics and
they will figure it out without me.” On the one hand, she added, such an
attitude “may be irresponsible, but on the other hand, it is much better than
panicking and spreading unverified news,” which she suspects is “now pouring in
from everywhere. We need to stay calm, I think.”
Betty Endale, who is part of the
Afro-Ukrainian hip-hop group Fo Sho, has reached a breaking point. “We are
frustrated by what is going on, and just trying to keep our peace,” she said.
But what is happening in Ukraine she said is “giving me panic attacks.” Her
family also plans to head to Spain, where the government is already talking
about sending troops to fight in Ukraine, and which she’s heard is welcoming
Ukrainian refugees, who are just starting to trickle in. According to estimates
from Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov, if Russia does indeed invade,
some 5 million Ukrainians may be seeking a new home in the West.
^ It is so sad to hear what the
ordinary Men, Women and Children throughout Ukraine are having to deal with now
(or have had to deal with in Crimea and Donbas since 2014) because of Putin. He
is trying to destabilize Ukraine and Europe in general. ^
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