689 day of war

Hello, friends!

This week Ukraine was hit by bad weather, and it became very cold. Strong winds, snow, and frost made it possible to stay at home and take care of domestic chores. Going somewhere was nearly impossible; the streets looked like an ice rink. Nevertheless, winter does look beautiful, and snow-covered streets are charming. Most days, we only went outside to the nearest store, and every morning we fed a stray cat that even in such weather would run to us, navigating through snowdrifts.

There's no work after the new year, so the entire week was spent on bureaucratic matters. It seems like all documents are written in a way to be deliberately confusing, and one has to read and fill them out very carefully to avoid mistakes. It appears that bureaucracy is something that unites all countries in the world, and there's no escaping it :)

The cold weather also seems to be a signal for Russians who attempt to cause as much harm as possible with their shelling. Rocket attacks are still happening regularly, and the worse the weather is, the more shelling we receive. Electricity occasionally goes out, but there aren't as many power outages as there were last year. It seems that the Russians can no longer inflict so much damage to disconnect the entire country from electricity, or our air defense is working well. I've seen many politicians and ministers from different countries visiting Kyiv in these days, giving hope that they haven't forgotten about us and that our skies are now so protected that people are not afraid to come here.

The number of conflicts in the world is increasing, and it is truly frightening. Just a few years ago, I couldn't even imagine that wars were happening somewhere; it seemed like a distant past, but now it's happening everywhere. Against this backdrop, it becomes more unclear when our war will end, or if it was just the beginning of something bigger. We always want to believe in a better future, to believe that someday there will be peaceful times when we can simply live and plan our lives, instead of hiding every day in dark and cold bomb shelters, hoping that there will be a home to return. All of this must end, and it will definitely happen.

Thank you all for your support, and a big thank you for the help on buymeacoffee. In times without orders, it really helps to pay for rent and buy food. Thank you!