Tymofiy Mylovanov Profile picture
Nov 27, 2022 17 tweets 6 min read Read on X
Good evening. Day 5 after the latest Russian attack on Kyiv. Day 277 of the war. I am president of the Kyiv School of Economics, a former minister of economy of Ukraine, and a professor of economics at the University of Pittsburgh. I left the US for Kyiv 4 days before the war 1/ Image
and stayed there, with some short trips outside of Ukraine for fundraising. Officially, I am on sabbatical leave from Pittsburgh this year. I guess not many people have field sabbaticals, here the field is a war. I left the US because I must lead the Kyiv School of 2/
Economics through the war. I hold a green card and can leave Ukraine at any moment. But I do not want to and will not do it. Now, back to my day. It was busy and I am tired. Shopping, looking and assembling things. In short, preparing for another likely Russian attack tomorrow 3/
We got our super warm winter hiking clothing out. Many people suggested that we can sleep in a tent in our bedroom. So we dug out sleeping bags and went to buy a tent. 4/ Image
The shops were open and it was Black Friday. Everything on sale. But when we were about to pay, the electricity went off. The shop had a battery and continued to run. They used Xmas lights to save electricity instead of their regular ones. It was very cozy. Here is a pic. 5/ Image
Many people suggested that when the electricity and heating go out, we use candles or gas / kerosine heaters to warm the apartment. We decided against it. First, it is not too safe for novices. Second, none are on the market or we could find. So, we drove to 6/
another store to get at least some wood and coal. The plan is to use an simple and small firewood oven that we can set up on our balcony if all else fails. How do you drive when there is no lights in the city, that is, no traffic lights? Traffic police come out! My respect! 7/ Image
We wanted to try the firewood idea, just to practice, when we get home. But we got exhausted bringing all this stuff to the 8th floor. So, we will try it another time. Will post the picture. Yet, my wife wanted some tea anyway. And also she wanted to get hot water 8/ Image
for the morning. She asked me to start the generator so she can use electric tea pot. I did and discovered another problem. The snow on the balcony has melted. And the generator was sliding towards the windows because of vibration. I need a way to fix it in place, but that’s 9/
for tomorrow. Anyway, the water is boiled and stored in thermoses. We have two, one liter each. Perhaps, we should get more. We can probably order them delivered. Here is a pic of a delivery man on a bike 90 mins before the curfew. 10/ Image
That’s a private service. Public services work too. Here is a tractor shoveling snow on a sidewalk. All pictures taken when we were driving back from a mall. 11/ twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
The mall looked normal too except for occasionally blinking light, shortage of products in electrical and heating departments, and occasional assignments by managers to their staff to remember to start generators for the night. There was even a sushi restaurant. A good one. 12/ Image
In the morning, we checked out a center of “nezlamnost”. These are shelters when people can get warm, get some tea, access internet, and power their devices. Here is a Starlinks set up for you :). Very cute! 13/ Image
The center is run by a charity organization “solomenski cats”. Solomenski is the place. Here is their logo. We proposed to them to equip 10 more centers like that and KSE Foundation will match / provide 50% of funding. The rest they should raise themselves 14/ Image
The centers are set up officially at the request / initiative of the president and mayors. There is some funding. For basics. They are set up in hospitals and schools. The problem is that often money is not enough. You should have organizational and procurement capability 15/ Image
This is where we will try to help. Finally, I posted separately about our students spending the last night at the university building (we have one, no dorm). Here are some pics. 16/ twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
We are ready for another attack. Russians often hit on Monday. That’s tomorrow. Every time damages get worse. No water and heat for days. But people are adapting. You can donate to KSE here. Thank you so much for your support!!!

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More from @Mylovanov

Feb 19
Bill Browder: Putin is the invader and the aggressor. Ukraine is the defender.

But Trump's approach to this negotiation is to try to put pressure on the defender to capitulate and not punish the invader. This is a wholly ineffective and inappropriate way to get peace. 1/
Browder: Putin can keep Trump involved in this peace negotiation. Anytime there's talk of increased sanctions, Trump will say, "No, we don't want to upset these delicate negotiations."

Putin can buy time. Putin is hoping some far-right government comes in Germany or France. 2/
Browder: Putin hopes Europe's alliance to support Ukraine fractures as American support was suspended.

Putin's prayer: buy time, watch democracies fight among themselves. Since he doesn't care about the loss of his own soldiers, he can throw more into the meat grinder. 3/
Read 10 tweets
Feb 19
Ex-US Ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor: The Ukrainians want to be a sovereign country. They want to live European. The Russians want them to surrender. The Russians want to dominate Ukraine.

There's no middle ground. Trump needs to put the pressure on Putin. 1/
Taylor: Talking is fine [to Putin].

Putin has been dragging it out because he wants to grind away at the Ukrainians day after day, month after month, year after year. Coming up on 4th years. 2/
Taylor: Putin thinks that this grind will eventually allow him to win. He thinks the Ukrainians will someday give up. They won't.

He thinks the Europeans will back away from Ukraine. They're not. Europeans are really stepping up. Putin hopes the Americans will get tired. 3/
Read 10 tweets
Feb 19
In Geneva, Ukraine tries to prevent Russia from getting Donbas but to no avail.

The latest round of talks ended without progress, as Moscow demands Kyiv hand over a 50×40 mile strip of territory in Donetsk as the price for ending the war. — NYT 1/ Image
Russia wants a strip of land about 50 miles long and 40 miles wide between the frontline and the administrative border of Donetsk region, covering dozens of towns and villages.

Ukraine refuses to withdraw unilaterally. 2/
Kyiv argues that ceding land would embolden Russia to attack again, either in Ukraine or elsewhere.

Zelenskyy: “Allowing the aggressor to take something is a big mistake.” 3/
Read 11 tweets
Feb 19
Former Ukrainian FM Kuleba: Trump likes Putin. He would like to rule America the way Putin rules Russia or Xi rules China.

Trump sees the world through a superpower lens: when a superpower tells a country what to do, it should comply.

Ukraine doesn’t fit that worldview.

1/
Former Ukrainian FM Kuleba: I don’t expect any deal before the end of winter.

Russia bringing Medinsky back sends a signal: “We’re not in a hurry.”

This is a circus. He’s a clown, not a negotiator.

2/
Kuleba: Putin will agree to a ceasefire only under two conditions.

First: the front stabilizes. He can no longer claim “we advance every day, we hold the initiative.”

Second: Russia’s economic problems become so severe that he needs a pause to ease sanctions pressure.

3/
Read 6 tweets
Feb 19
Suppliers of death.

The Insider identified 300 Russian companies purchasing goods specifically for the military-industrial complex.

Sanction one firm — another appears. But mapping the full network at once could hit production harder. 1/ Image
In 2024, nearly 10,000 Russian companies imported sanctioned goods worth over $22B.

More than 2,000 of them were contractors for leading defense enterprises. Defense contractors imported over $5B in sanctioned goods. 2/
Using domestic transaction data matched with customs records, The Insider identified 160 key intermediaries tied directly to top military plants.

Their confirmed deliveries to defense firms — 80B rubles ($1B). 3/
Read 9 tweets
Feb 19
Ukrainian soldiers survive –25°C this winter — United24.

On the Sumy front, frozen trenches, failing engines, and constant drone surveillance define daily combat.

Commander “Bull”: “You’d doze off… open your eyes, and the snow had already covered you.” 1/ Image
The temperature drops to –25°C. At dawn, 8 km from Russian positions, anti-drone netting covers Ukrainian artillery.

Snow hides positions and exposes them. Footprints can give coordinates away within minutes. 2/
Bull commands an artillery unit of the 47th Mechanized Brigade. “The first two days without heating are manageable. But by the third or fourth day at –10°C, it gets really hard. Frostbite becomes real.” 3/
Read 10 tweets

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