FFive planes from Egyptian resorts returned to Boryspil airport yesterday, picked up new passengers and departed. A plane also arrived from the Cuban resort town of Varadero, where my friend, editor Anetta Antonenko, recently rested for 10 days. Ukrainians are already used to warming up and sunbathing in Egypt in winter.
I don’t know how they feel now, flying to warmer climes. Do they take with them documents for their possessions and everything that the Ukrainian government has advised its citizens to put in an “emergency suitcase”, as well as a supply of food for two days, a change of underwear and personal documents?
I actually checked the departures/arrivals website because the British Embassy emailed my English wife with a warning that she and the children must leave while there are commercial flights . If they stay, they should not count on help from the embassy. I am not British, I am a citizen of Ukraine. Nobody sends me e-mails demanding that I leave as soon as possible. My wife decided to stay. Just like our sons Theo and Anton, who don’t want to go anywhere. The eldest, Theo, works in an animation film studio and recently signed a contract until the end of May. Anton is 19 and waiting for spring to repair a 1974 Moskvich Soviet car he bought a year ago for $800.
Over the past two days, numerous statements from the United States, Canada, Japan and other countries have announced that almost all diplomats are leaving Ukraine, as there are reports that active hostilities, including bombardments of cities, could begin within the next 48 hours. .
But as long as the planes are flying, I’m calm. Also, my wife and I are having dinner with the Brazilian ambassador tonight. Brazil has yet to make an announcement.
My friend said we should actually keep an eye on the Chinese Embassy. As soon as it announces the evacuation of its employees, the threat of war must be taken seriously. Russia will certainly warn China before bombing Kyiv. They are now strategic partners.
The Chinese Embassy is silent for now.
Our close friends, an old Franco-Japanese couple, are distraught. They lived in Kyiv for a long time they bought two large apartments in the center. One is for rent, the other for living, as is the case for many foreigners who have settled in Ukraine. They also don’t want to go anywhere.
The barometer of the war in Kyiv are the exchange rates and the statements of President Volodymyr Zelensky. If the dollar and the euro rise sharply against the hryvnia, the war has become even closer. Today, the dollar and the euro rose in price more than usual. But, in truth, in recent weeks they have already been at this level and even more expensive. The price of petrol has already increased significantly, but it is still cheaper than in the UK.
Zelensky again reassured the Ukrainians and said that everything was under control. He has repeatedly accused Western politicians of exaggerating the danger of a Russian attack, although after his speeches I suspect he downplayed the threat.
I am one of the many Ukrainians who regularly have to change euros and dollars to pay their subsistence and utility bills. My main income comes from the sale of books abroad. A week ago I went to the exchange office, where the rate is usually very good. A young man stood at the window of the exchange office and exchanged several bundles of 100 dollar bills for hryvnias.
An employee approached me and said, “This customer has a very large sum, the cashier will be busy for a long time. How much do you want to change? »
“One hundred dollars,” I replied.
“Tanya, give me some loose change, for a hundred dollars!”
Putting the hryvnias in my pocket, I walked out and thought for the first time that $100 didn’t mean so much in Ukraine anymore. Prices in the country have long since become European, while ordinary salaries and pensions have remained largely post-Soviet.
Most of my neighbors in the village receive a pension of just over $100 a month. But they usually have large stocks of vegetables and preserves in the cellar. However, civil servants in Kyiv receive salaries of thousands of dollars per month. They live in another reality. Today, these two realities are threatened. Under threat of war.
Yesterday I noticed that the exchange office where I changed money the other day was already closed. Gone. It’s no more. But there are several other exchanges nearby. As long as banks and exchange offices are open, you can be relatively calm.
Today my friend invited my wife and I to one of the best restaurants in Kyiv for his birthday. Next Saturday, February 19. Does this mean that there will be no war before February 19? I really hope. I have lost a lot because of the pandemic – trips abroad, book festivals and exhibitions and also, because we need fun, dinners in good restaurants. I wouldn’t want to lose everything again, this time because of the war.
It’s so strange to think that the whole world now depends on what can go on in the head of a single aging man.
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