We headed out in the early hours to visit one of the newly liberated towns surrounding Kyiv. The area was one of the first targets of Russian forces in late February and early March as they tried to encircle the capital and take hold of some air fields. That advance was largely unsuccessful, and Ukrainian forces are now clawing back … Read More
Food on the Ukrainian Frontline
It’s below freezing in the Ukrainian trenches, dug just a few hundred yards away from Russian-backed separatists. There’s regularly a ceasefire violation around here – sniperfire or mortar rounds shot at the troops wearing blue & yellow patches, the flag of Ukraine, on their shoulders. They run regular rotations into the trench to peer across no man’s land… and then … Read More
Fuel for the Press Marathon in Kyiv
It was the most unusual press conference I’ve ever attended; and I’ve sat thru Vladimir Putin’s hours-long telecast, been part of press scrums on front steps and in the tails of planes and everything in between. But today Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky decided to address several hundred journalists, not all at once but in what he described as a “press … Read More
Banosh, Ukrainian Mountain Food that Sticks to your Ribs
In the Carpathian mountains and surrounding foothills of Western Ukraine, locals make a porridge to get them through the long, dark winters and sustain them from breakfast to dinner. I, of course, ate this gut-bomb porridge in 90 degree heat with a humidity level that makes even the mosquitos sluggish…. but it’s all in the name of research! For this is true … Read More
Quick Snack: A Russian Samovar at the Ukrainian Frontlines
The front lines of the conflict in Eastern Ukraine are bleak, particularly in February. The areas around Debaltsevo, hotly contested between Ukrainian troops and separatists/Russian forces, are rolling hills of frosty farmland, now sallow and muddy. The Ukrainians are hunkered down in [redacted], taking shelter where they can and using makeshift stoves, the local coal supply and generators for heat. … Read More