a Kind of Refugee / 16.03.2022
Today is Wednesday, March 16, 2022.
21 days since Russia launched 100 cruise missiles to begin its current assault of Ukraine (and 8 years, 24 days since Russia invaded Ukraine in the 21st century with the whole world witnessing).
21 days since I left my home in Kyiv, 19 since I arrived in Lviv, 18 that I’ve been living in this apartment. Since then, at various times, 6 other people have lived here; now we are 3.
Now 6 of my close friends are in Kyiv: 2 have joined the territorial defense of Kyiv; 1 is working as a fixer with 2 foreign journalists; 2 are training their puppy who they got in mid-February; 1 is a civilian fighting valiantly in the discursive war.
I have 2 pairs of jeans and 1 borrowed pair of soft house pants; 1 tank top, 1 thermal shirt, 1 black turtleneck, 1 green sweater, 1 mustard button-up sweater, and 1 black oversized sweater that doubles as a blanket. I have 7 pairs of underwear, 1 “sleeping costume” and 5 pairs of socks (1 has penguins on it). I have 1 pair of winter snow boots (on 1 boot the zipper is broken), a winter coat, hat, scarf and a pair of mittens.
The city of Mykolaiv has compiled a list of 40 items its defenders (Ukrainian Armed Forces, National Police, local police, Territorial Defense units, Regional Guards, etc.) need, including: 1000 bulletproof vests, 10 reconnaissance quadcopters, 300 Motorola DR4400 walkie-talkies, 1000 head-lamps/flashlights, 500 sleeping bags, 10 minibuses, 50 axes, 20 chainsaws, 20 generators, 200 shovels, 500 power banks, 500 staple guns, 10 boxes of masking/packing tape, 2000 pairs of underwear, 5000 pairs of socks.
PS If you want to help source / buy / donate / ship any of these things for our defenders (in Mykolaiv, Chernihiv, Kyiv), please contact me personally.