1.5 years into Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine. Millions of Ukrainians displaced, thousands dead, schools, hospitals destroyed.

Perfect time for one of Denmark’s most significant cultural institutions Louisiana Museum to organise an exhibition dedicated to Pussy Riot. *In the 9 years of Russian aggression of Ukraine, Louisiana has not thought of dedicating an exhibition to the resistance of Ukrainians as opposed to “Russian liberals”*

For those still convinced Russians just needed to get out of Russia to vocalise their support for Ukraine - some stories from the life of a Ukrainian student at a British university. A thread. (1/) Three weeks ago, I was walking in an area mostly populated by students when a Russian flag hanging down from the window of a student flat on one of Edinburgh's busiest streets stopped me dead in my tracks. (2/)

🧵I lived in Moscow between ages 5-8 and completed 1st grade in a Russian public school.

Some things I remember & was taught, much to the horror of my parents - a thread to illustrate the kind of “mundane militarism” environment present in Russia some 15+ years ago. (1/?) Looking back at pictures of me starting school, you would’ve thought they were taken pre-USSR collapse.

My school had a plaque on it commemorating the memory of the alumni-Heroes of the Soviet Union. Hammer and sickles casually featured in most school posters in hallways. (3/?)

🧵 Messaged a former student of mine (A) whom I taught English as part of a program for kids from Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts who have been affected by the war to ask how she’s doing.

She moved to Kyiv in September to start university and “get away from the frontline”. (1/4) I asked: “How are you?”
She responded: “I’m…in a bomb shelter, alive.”

Because *alive* is an indicator of how everyone is doing these days.

A then told me her friend was shot and killed while making her way home from Kharkiv yesterday. (2/4)