Letters from the Republic

To begin with, I want to make it clear that I am FINE. Everyone I know is FINE, everyone they know seems to be FINE, and the beginning of The Accountant 2 was FINE until I fell asleep.

Finefinefinefinefine.

Many people are not fine. In Kyiv alone, at least four people were killed and twenty people were confirmed to be injured so far. Following Operation Spider’s Web, everybody knew this attack was coming but there is only so much that a civilian can do as Putin’s army lobs explosives over hundreds of miles into residential neighborhoods.

Kyiv was originally established in the 5th century but gained its significant stature in the 9th when it was used as a Viking trading center. The civilizations that became Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, and any number of regimes across Slavic history all trace back to this place. The city is modern, its denizens educated, and its food and coffee scene is fantastic.

During the day – even today – people dine in cafes, work on their balconies and terraces, and bitch about disrupted commutes (a rocket destroyed a train line last night, leading to kilometer-long bus queues). The atmosphere is social, and not a small portion of the population speaks English – my excuse for somehow having a worse command of the Ukrainian language than when I got here.

“Shootings” like last night’s struck the sense of safety of people who lived their lives just as peacefully as the average Manhattan yuppie. This city – and country – has been upended by a war that burns no less brightly for the lack of American attention. Last night’s attack was over a mile away, but the sound of rolling thunder kept the whole city awake. The mood on everyone’s faces is dark, and yet courtesy and kindness prevail. People have gotten used to this in the most painful fashion.

Meanwhile, two enfeebled man-children wielding outsized power in the most affluent country in the world engaged in a spat over social media. The New York Times shifted the shelling – again! – of the 7th-largest city in Europe down several pages so they can cover the tumble of an overvalued electric car company’s share price. Seriously, who gives a shit?