Diaries from Kyiv – ridiculed and speculative

Kyiv (Dagbladet): the burning tank is part of an exhibition of destroyed Russian military equipment on Mikhailovska Square in the center of Kyiv, next to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, St. Michael’s Monastery with its golden dome and a hotel hosted by journalists from the leading media of the world.

Thus, the Ukrainian authorities made it easier to obtain stunning live broadcast images from Kyiv. Ukrainians sometimes take selfies next to a burning Russian tank.

A full-scale war has been going on in Ukraine for three months. More than 90 days, more than two thousand hours. According to the United Nations, at least 4,000 people died during this time. On average, every hour, 24/7, the Russians have killed two Ukrainians in the past three months. And these are only the numbers confirmed by international observers, without taking into account the victims in Mariupol and other temporarily occupied areas of Ukraine.

For three months, Putin has been telling us – give me Ukraine, or I will destroy the country. It will be like in Mariupol everywhere if we don’t give up.

And we understand that if we give in, it will be like treachery everywhere. Russia offers us a choice between bombing and bombing or looting and violence. Somehow – during the course of the Russian submachine gun.

On the ninetieth day of the war, my mother from Kherson wrote to me that fighter planes fly very low over the city. Their piercing sound is frightening.

Now this is also part of the world that the occupier offers us: banks and Russian currency. In addition, they refuse to meet with us in public, destroy Ukrainian books and try to write about our history.

Russian soldiers continue to rob the city’s shops, roam the city drunk and kill and rape civilians along the frontline villages. For three months now, Ukraine has been fighting for the right to exist. For three months, Russia has been trying to destroy Ukraine. For three months, Ukraine bravely resisted. For three months, politicians in some European countries have been talking about Ukraine having to make concessions and give part of Putin’s territory.

Does this mean I should give Putin my hometown? Does this mean that my mother, who lives in the occupied territories, will either obtain a Russian passport or leave the city where she has lived for nearly 70 years?

You want to leave Kherson now. But there is still the same problem – the Russian soldiers will not let anyone out of the city towards Ukraine.

Eight years ago, Russia annexed Crimea and occupied Donbass. Eight years later, this was not enough, and Russia continued. If Putin completely occupied Ukraine, he wouldn’t stop there either. And one day, having mustered strength and power, he would move – to Poland, Slovakia, the Baltic states, etc. – so long as some politicians talked about giving him some territory.

While Putin’s Russian military continues to kill at least two Ukrainians an hour for more than three months.

Translated by Asel Hansen.