Day 21
Meet Simba from Kharkiv on his way to Munich. An update from Vienna's main train station. Talk of peace but feels unfounded. Zelensky makes a powerful appeal to US Congress. The war continues.
Meet Simba. He is from Kharkiv. He is by now probably already in Munich. This morning I met him and his family in Vienna’s main train station. The first class lounge was finally opened to Ukrainians (would like to think my little weekend Twitter rant maybe played a small role in that). I brought the kids some hot chocolates, coffee for mom, and some fresh sandwiches. Little gestures. They asked if Simba may come out of his travel carrier. Sure, I said. It is nice to see humanity taking over, warm rooms being opened up, more organizations and people coming together to make Ukrainians lives as the move across Europe just a little bit easier.
I wrote just now about everything that happened this morning in a little thread here.
TLDR: good news is things feel more organized, there are more rest areas, more resources available, and a wonderful new official shuttle service with big vans and professional drivers to take Ukrainians arriving in Vienna who want to stay in Austria but don’t have housing yet to the official “welcome center” which is really like a first aid point that will give them a place to sleep for the first few nights and guide them through next steps. The ÖAMTC shuttles and drivers are super.
We continued to help families and women on the ground, whether lining up to get ongoing train tickets, offering a fresh coffee and sandwich, or explaining how to get online or seek medical help. Every person has a story. Every person is exhausted. Every person has some kind of plan. And every person has many questions.
The women arriving today were from all over: Odessa, Kyiv, Mykolaiv (many, and as you know, the fighting has been very bad there of late), Kharkiv, Dnipro. They are patient and calm given the circumstances, but also completely exhausted. Sometimes even carrying a heavy duffel bag from A to B is a huge help. Don’t forget they have all of their valuables with them and are worried about losing things, kids, pets. I took one family of 10 with me to get some breakfast, and the mom insisted on keeping the teens in her line of sight. I understood completely. Everything and everyone is tense. There are fewer tears but the reality of not being able to go back next week or even next month is setting in. There are longer term questions. Where will we live? How will we be able to work? How much do things cost here in Europe? Will they kick us out, tell us we can’t stay anymore if we don’t register immediately? (Some parts of Austria are only now processing the first arrivals; in Vienna, registration isn’t open to all yet.)
The bad news is some creepy characters are emerging and trying to lure Ukrainian women, offering “help” or hotel rooms and the like. I wrote about what I experience this morning here. All of us will have to keep our eyes and ears open. There are so many women on the move and if not given immediate access to housing and the official labor market, I worry about how vulnerable they may be.
Back in Ukraine, the prime ministers of Poland, Czechia and Slovenia were in Kyiv last night and met with Zelensky, who published the video here. This afternoon, Zelensky was already at it again, this time addressing US Congress, with powerful allusions to our own civil rights movements, 9/11, etc. Will it help? I really don’t know.
There are rumblings of peace talks but to be honest I haven’t been able to get their head around them. I cannot see what Putin gains from a negotiated settlement now. This was never about NATO. This was always about Ukraine as a nation state. Russia has already lost a reported 6000 to 7000 soldiers per US reports. And for what? What victory would Putin present now?
Likewise, I also cannot see how Zelensky could sell a peace with territorial sacrifices to Russia after so many Ukrainian soldiers and civilians have already paid with their lives. 10 Ukrainians were killed today waiting in line for bread in Chernihiv. Waiting in line for bread in broad daylight. I saw a video from a local telegram channel; it was taken down from Twitter, probably because of what it contained. In other words: this really did just happen this morning. Kyiv residential areas continue to be under attack. Russia has already destroyed what looks like a big chunk of Ukraine’s infrastructure. Why would it stop now?
Just watch these two videos. Two presidents. Does it look like either one is ready to talk? I can imagine both sides are buying time to reload their weapons (you know what I mean — military strategy definitely not my forte, thank goodness).
So I really don’t know. I continue to think this is just the beginning, but maybe I am really wrong, and too close to the situation now to see the forest through the trees. Listen carefully when you hear hesitation in Europe and disunity. Orban, for example, up for reelection this spring, demands Hungary “stay out of this war”. Austria is still famously neutral. You hear the word “neutral” a LOT on Austrian radio and TV recently. I wrote about the history of Austrian neutrality last night, a mini thread:
Europe, unlike the US, cannot condemn Russia in unison and Russia knows this. Media reports in Austria focus not just on the war in Ukraine and refugee flows, but also how to compensate Austrian businesses for lost revenues as a result of sanctions against trade with Russia. That too is an economic reality. All of this makes me fear the nice-ski-mountains-good-food-and-wine-little-pro-Putin-fascist-state-without-a-shot-being-fired because I don’t have a word for it. It is for now the nightmare scenario that only lives in my head.
The Chinese ambassador to the US wrote a zinger of an op-ed in the Washington Post yesterday. The essay was really just an opportunity for China to remind the world why its claim to Taiwan is of course fundamentally different than the whole Russia-Ukraine mess. Of course. How convenient.
For more on China and Russia, do read Reid Standish, who succinctly reminds us that China ultimately only cares about China.
This moving video is what we see every morning at the train station. It is the perfect means of reporting on what is happening right now across Europe. Do watch it.
Meanwhile, somewhere deep in Russia. So spooky.
Thank you, readers, for your generosity in allowing me to provide on-site help to Ukrainians arriving in Vienna. I always tell the women (and children and pets) of Ukraine that it isn’t me buying the coffees, hot chocolates, sandwiches, and other drug store items, but you, a group of people from around the world who care deeply about what is happening to the people of Ukraine. They are usually very surprised and grateful.
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