Kyiv against the horde
…
From the east came storms,
Roaring, turbulent whirlwinds—
It shone with gold in the azure,
Burning on its hill.”
(Yevhen Malaniuk)
This text is primarily for friends abroad who periodically ask, “How’s Kyiv? Is it safe?”
May is the best month in Kyiv. The cold weather has finally retreated, and the heat hasn’t yet arrived. Chestnut trees bloom throughout the city, and its numerous parks and trees remind us that, not so long ago, Kyiv was considered the greenest capital in the world.
The last Sunday of May is Kyiv Day. Typically, this weekend is filled with large-scale events in the city.
But there is a problem — russians, who hate everything Ukrainian, and Kyiv most of all. Over the past two nights, Kyiv has been heavily shelled. On the night of Sunday, May 25, Russia launched 69 missiles and nearly 300 attack drones across Ukraine, with a significant number targeting the Kyiv region. In the Kyiv region, 23 residents were injured, and four people lost their lives.
For most readers, this is just statistics. Kyiv is a vast city, and most Kyiv citizents and visitors have long come to terms with the fact that the chance of a strike hitting you personally is small.
Why have russians intensified their attacks on Kyiv? Because they can afford to. And because they hate Kyiv—not only for its success, resilience, and role as a symbol of the Ukrainian state. russians hate Kyiv geopolitically. Its very existence reminds moscow who is the Center and Metropolis, and who is the periphery.
Those who have lived in Kyiv for a long time still remember the days of total russian language dominance—in business, culture, daily life, and city infrastructure. A time when russians offered discounts not only on gas but flooded the market with their cheap low-quality music, films, and books. When they funneled millions—not in rubles, but in dollars—through religious, civic, and political organizations to promote the so-called “russian world.” russian interests were heavily represented in Ukraine. As one statistical example, ten years before the full-scale war, communists won 12% of the vote in elections. The ruling Party of Regions at the time was largely pro-russian, and there were plenty of other pro-russian politicians as well.
But everything changed with the Maidan. Unlike the 2004 Orange Revolution, the Maidan of 2013–2014 was geopolitical. It marked a break with russia (though, sadly, for some, this break only became personal in 2022). The Maidan was not about integration with the West but about asserting Ukraine’s geopolitical agenda. In one way or another, it cleansed society of russian influence, reduced xenophilia (the love of all things foreign), and sparked interest in everything Ukrainian.
An even greater surge in Kyiv’s significance came in 2022. Many Ukrainians went abroad and, by comparison, realized the beauty, grandeur, and advantages of Kyiv and life in Ukraine. Thus, love for Kyiv grew—first through rejection of cheap Russian mass culture, then through the collapse of the myth that “everything is better in the West.”
Kyiv-centrism is increasingly taking root. It manifests in thoughts and worldviews, in the works of artists, in new murals and city streets bearing the names of past heroes (Hetman Skoropadsky, Kostiantyn Ostrozky, Roman Shukhevych) and modern ones (Oleh Mudrak). It appears in the creation of new bookstores, cafés, and restaurants, sprouting like mushrooms after rain across Kyiv. It is evident in the actions of those who, despite difficult circumstances, contribute—big or small—through military service or by bolstering industrial strength and creating new enterprises.
As Dostoevsky wrote (and it’s hard to argue that he wasn’t an expert on the кussian soul), “He who does not lie and steal is not кussian.” russian elites lie in the media so confidently that the population takes it for truth. They lie in negotiations. And they steal every day. They steal lives. They steal land. They steal people in occupied territories. russian geopolitics of death is cruel and merciless. Above all, they want to steal Ukrainian statehood itself. From Kyiv, they seek to take its history, its sovereignty, its primacy, and its role in the entire Orthodox civilization (as per Huntington) and its geopolitical mission.
But Kyiv will endure.
Posted Using INLEO