I just read on Twitter the gardeners of Kyiv are still getting ready to plant spring flowers, despite war, despite a 36 hour curfew about to start in Ukraine’s capital. I can’t think of a better metaphor for the optimism of the human spirit which must somehow prevail, even when things feel very dark. Today, I feel very dark. Let me explain.
This morning I was driving to an in person interview to be a volunteer translator (yes, really — this is how Austrian bureaucracy, despite all its good intentions, works in practice). The 9am news came on the radio. This is what they said plus a bit of my immediate reaction:
I had a meeting to learn how I can help volunteering with translation at one of the temporary housing centres for Ukrainian refugees in Vienna. I signed a lot of papers. I provided a piece of paper from the police that I don’t have a criminal record. I do not yet have a specific time/date/place assignment. The website to coordinate us is under construction. Let’s see.
This crisis has come out of left field for a lot of aid organizations and government bodies alike. I am not now pointing fingers at any in particular. I am simply trying to warn that doing things the normal Austrian way (slow, bureaucratic, lots of waiting in lines) will be a disaster. Europe will only be able to absorb millions of Ukrainian women, children, elderly and their pets if Europe learns to do things a new way. It just hit me like a ton of bricks that Europe will not cope, not on this scale. I hope Canada and the United States are ready to step in, send some planes, pick up some of the pieces. I am petrified of what is about to unfold, the helplessness with which people who have already been to hell and back are about to be greeted in the “civilized” west.
Some countries like Poland have gone above and beyond but are already at their limits. There is talk some major German cities are already bursting at the seams. The radio report I heard this morning also said the EU will have to come up with a strategy to try and “balance distribution” of refugee flows among the member countries, to take the pressure off those countries closest to Ukraine. Which sounds fine in practice, but in theory doesn’t work, because Ukrainians are going where they have someone: a relative, a friend, a phone number. They already know which countries are full and which are still happy to help. Their informal online networks work faster than any NGO. This report and photos give a window into the experience, as do millions of TikToks, such as this one.
Today I am worried about Kyiv. It is going into a 36 hour curfew tonight. The blasts and attacks are drawing closer and closer and continue to hit residential buildings. As the former Ukrainian ambassador to Austria writes, “they can’t win face-to-face, so they destroy civilians”. I fear he is right. Putin is losing this war both on the ground in Ukraine and in the hearts and minds of people around the world, including within Russia. So what does he do? Dig deeper and try to destroy everything in Ukraine.
I’m sure you have all seen the brave act by Marina Ovsyannikova on live national TV last night in Moscow. Her lawyers as of this morning still didn’t know where she is. I can imagine the official state retaliation for this will be brutal. I think it’s hard to convey to people outside of Russia (maybe those in China or North Korea would understand, seriously) how unheard of it is for anyone working for state television to undertake any kind of act of defiance, let alone interrupting a live broadcast with a steely news anchor the country has watched for decades. These things simply do not happen in Putin’s Russia, until one day, they do. The impossible becomes possible. Who knew?
A few other pieces of recommended reading. These two Atlantic pieces are both worth a close read: America’s Hesitation on Ukraine is Heartbreaking and The Western World is in Denial from Kyiv.
Also this really upsetting LA Times report from Irpin, Kyiv oblast.
I would also recommend today’s Behind the Iron Curtain for a summary of the views from Moscow.
There is another topic I would like to write about but I cannot yet. Those of you who have been reading me carefully hopefully know what I am referring to. I fear (in theory — as I have not witnessed anything myself yet) the reaction to a public discourse on shortcomings of the official response on the ground here in Vienna so far might be to simply kick those of us trying to help on a grassroots level out of the equation. I hope my fears are completely overblown and everyone involved is grateful for the support being provided by Russian and Ukrainian speakers in Vienna to refugees arriving from Ukraine.
In short: it’s not only Russia that wants to control the narrative.
More tomorrow.
I leave you with this very emotional New Yorker cover:
Thank you for reading!
Glad you are holding up. I know you do not want to discuss much from your personal perspective vis-à-vis Austria. Can you give some resources where we could pick up some information and analysis?