Thread by @timkmak

Good morning from Ukraine.

Kyiv remains in Ukrainian hands.

And further to the south, unarmed Ukrainians continue to bravely demonstrate against Russian occupation. Notice no one reacts w fear when shots are fired in this video from Kherson

The Russian mil continues to press Kyiv but they continue to be stuck in an “operational pause” — they are making some slight progress in the south but without much momentum.

While there were Americans and other foreign fighter training at the Yavoriv training center, none appear to have been among the 35 killed and 134 injured yesterday morning near the Polish border.

buzzfeednews.com/article/christ…

Meanwhile near Kyiv, in the northern suburb of Obolon, more images of destruction in civilian areas, via Ukrainian government

I ran into a sr Ukrainian military official at 345am. News of Kadyrov arriving near Kyiv had reached him.

“F*** Kadyrov,” he said, unprompted, while we waited for air sirens to abate.

Interesting who you will run into in your local bomb shelter.

Another day traveling Ukraine’s rural routes. The checkpoints are getting much smoother… guards have been joking around with us when they see us… rifles slung, not held in the low ready position… a reflection of how Ukrainians in this region feel the war is going for them

The smell at these checkpoints is sweetly burning firewood— many of them have small stoves set up at the CP.

It’s only a few degrees below freezing but it feels much colder for some reason.

If I do an interview outside for 30 minutes it will take an hour inside to fully warm up

I see Ukrainians along the side of the road grimly getting their work done.

I saw a gas station worker still sweeping and cleaning the site despite there being no gas…

I saw workers still filling potholes now that spring is here

Other scenes include soldiers scrolling on the phones while taking a break at a checkpoint, firefighter getting breakfast, and a Ukrainian joke: a dummy wearing body armor on the side of the road

With all the incoming info of violence and war, it’s still somewhat comforting that what Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher are saying is leading news broadcasts on Ukrainian television

This says something profound about what is important to a population. In this case cultural preservation:

In this photo disseminated by Ukrainian govt, Odesa is trying to protect a monument to Duke de Richelieu with sandbags

Am thinking today of the kindness we have experienced… as we evacuated Kyiv (along with hundreds of thousands of others) no hotels were available… one family also on the run took us in at a rented apartment

Here is me and @ElBeardsley having dinner w them:

They fed us, and I remember looking down at this plate of Ukrainian dumplings: “is ALL this for me?!” They were on the run too but refused to be anything but fine hosts

(On the night before, during evac, I had slept on a mattress I found under the stairs in a bldg without power)

The night we ate dumplings together their toddler also peed on me while we were sitting on the same bench

I told @MEvstatieva and she said it was “good luck” — we were part of what would become a multi-day mass exodus from Kyiv, and I was like, “we could use some of that!”

Today’s dogs of war photos are dedicated to the Ukrainians who refuse to leave their family members behind