The Bunster is almost 6 years old (his birthday is on the 29th) and he is very curious. This high energy little man is a sponge, and he is learning non-stop. Of course he keeps asking what his dad is doing all the time when I say “I need to do some work Bun, please stop making so much noise.” “What is this work … ?” he sometimes asks. It looks like all I do is stare a laptop screen all day. That in itself is concerning, but it is what is on that screen that is not so good for the Bun to see.

If I was in the fashion industry then perhaps he would look at me glaring at images of people in trendy clothes. And if I was a travel agent then perhaps he would look at me checking out pictures of hotels, and travel itineraries. And if I was in the automobile sector then perhaps he would look at photos of cool cars on my laptop screen. But I am working on a film project that is about Ukraine and there are visuals on my laptop of explosions, devastation and pain.

The Bunster knows about the war but we try our best not to talk about it in front of him. He is very sensitive and his one granny is in Kyiv and he sometimes asks us “Are rockets going to hurt Baba?” It is hard to believe that war is a part of lives and I fear that war is not going away. My biggest fear is that the Bunster is going to grow up in a world where war is a fixture, and that is incredibly sad.

We believe in the work we are doing. We are trying to make a difference. We are trying to share a story about Ukraine and what people in Kyiv have experienced there from 2018 up until today. This work is from the heart and it is full of purpose. One day, when the Bunster is a bit older he will watch the chapters of Kyiv of Mine and learn something about where he comes from and how the world there has changed since 2018 (before the full scale invasion) up until today, in this fifth year of this brutal war, which has no end in sight.

Make sure to watch “The light that remains” – this is the 4th chapter in the Kyiv of Mine series. We believe this will speak to your heart.

It was a brutal winter, and another cold season is already on the horizon. More than four years into the full-scale invasion, the war has left its mark. In this fourth chapter of KYIV OF MINE, we return to the people living through it and to the traumatic ways life, hope and resilience have changed.

Today is Ukraine’s 35th Independence Day. It may seem like not much, but it’s 35 more years of freedom than Russia would like Ukraine to have.

https://www.youtube.com/@KyivOfMine

This is a summary of some points from what I was reading online last week.

Anne Applebaum and Alexander Stubb are spot on : Putin dreams of restoring the Russian Empire.

The Russian population, brainwashed by years of propaganda, dreams of the same thing.

Russia has everything: vast territory and resources. The search for new ones is not the reason for the invasion of Ukraine.

Mentally, Russia is an empire living in the past. That is why Russia does not feel whole without Ukraine, which it perceives as an inseparable part of itself.

Ukraine’s victory will mean the death of this empire. Russia’s defeat will come when it rethinks its imperial identity. Only political and cultural reform will turn Russia into a civilized neighbor.

As long as Russia exists as an empire, it will think in terms of “buffer zones” and borders reaching all the way to Lisbon, and it will remain a real threat to Europe.

And then there is Trump, who doesn’t help Ukraine and continues to appease Putin.

It’s clear to everyone by now that Trump is on Putin’s side. Either Putin has something devastating on him, or he thinks he can make more money by betraying Ukraine, contrary to all American foreign policy since 1948.

Recently the US Senate passed a sanctions bill on Russia, but this is just a symbolic act. Speaker Johnson is going to ignore it in the House until October and if any changes are made it will delay the bill even longer.

Trump does not need a bill. If Trump wanted to sanction Russia he has that power right now. Trump continues to not sanction Russia every day. Trump just wants good PR by allowing this bill to pass before the November election.

The conclusion from this discussion is that there are much darker times ahead and I fear more than ever that a bigger war is coming to Europe. Of course, I hope I am wrong.

Ukraine will survive, and Ukraine will one day heal and grow. But until then there is a lot more pain still to come.

Dave and Dave

Last night Kyiv was attacked by 40 ballistic missiles. The biggest such attack since the start of the full scale invasion. And Europe is sitting with Patriot interceptor missiles while Ukraine is exposed and hurting. WTF?! The whole point of NATO is to defend against Russian aggression. Ukraine is holding the line, while Europe debates and discusses and sips lattes.

But there is a lot more going on this week. These past few days has seen protests all across Ukraine. I am no expert on politics in Ukraine but I follow every development as closely as I can. Besides the evil neighbour to the East, there are struggles inside Ukraine which are far from trivial. And I am not referring to ongoing corruption issues but rather, the leadership struggle which erupted this week.

The current Defense Minister of Ukraine, Mykhailo Fedorov was let go this week by President Zelensky and this has sparked these protests. Just about everyone I know in Kyiv is confused and upset by this decision from Zelensky. One thing it demonstrates again is that democracy is alive and well, as people protest freely and I believe their voices are being heard. The Ukrainian people like Fedorov and it certainly seems like he was doing many good things. So why did he get sacked? This is a very good question.

I do not know Mr. Zelensky but I know people who do, and my own sense is that his heart is in the right place. So why did he make the decisions he made this week? One friend of mine from Kyiv said that Zelensky is exhausted and often can’t see the wood from the trees, and when someone is so run down they tend to make mistakes.

A leading journalist I follow in Kyiv said this: The public storm from Ukrainian society — military and civilian — pushing Zelensky to dismiss Syrskyi is reaching critical mass and seems to passed a point of no return. If it happens, the result of the mindless decision to sack Fedorov could even be a net positive for Ukraine.

This coming week could be pivotal. There is no progress without struggle, so perhaps next week we will witness a breakthrough. It has happened before. The Ukrainian people often surprise everyone – this is a soulful nation of smart people. I have faith that the chips will fall into place, but for sure, there are many more sleepless nights ahead, from rocket attacks, and also, from internal turmoil.

One of the biggest sources of trauma and stress in Ukraine is the military moilisation. You don’t read about this in the international news, but for men under 60 in Ukraine it is a very real thing. Everyone believes in their country and everyone wants Ukraine to win, but not everyone wants to be a soldier. It is a horrible situation and God knows what the answer is. And at the same time that all of this is going on, the Ukrainian armed forces are hitting back at Russia left, right and center. This is bringing a lot of joy to Ukrainians (I don’t know how else to put it) but don’t mistake this for Ukrainians being happy. Far from it. When the war is over one day then perhaps we can talk about happiness. But for now, the struggle grows more intense by the week.

We are trying to capture some of these themes in the latest chapter of Kyiv of Mine, which is scheduled do go live on the 24th of August.

Slava Ukraini !

This week saw Bunster’s school break up for the long summer holiday. And on the first day of his vacation adventure he got sick. Off to the doctor we went. The Bunster has a sore ear, and a bit of a runny nose and a small cough. He is a bit better as I post this. We hope tomorrow when he wakes up that he is feeling good again.

At the start of this week we watched the Egypt Argentina World Cup match at a a friend’s flat. It was an unplanned thing, that late afternoon, after school that day. Our hosts consisted of an Egyptian and Syrian, and myself. And 4 kids. Egypt! Egypt! Egypt! That is what all of us were shouting, and the excitement was quite something. I thought Egypt was going to win for sure. But alas, something happened.

I am not a sporty person and I don’t know much about soccer, er, football. But what I do know is that something was not right. In my eyes, Egypt were not treated fairly. They should have won.

Tomorrow the Bun man has soccer practice in the park (if he is feeling better). He likes playing with a soccer ball.

The Bunster is going with some friends to the cinema on Sunday to see Toy Story 5. He is very excited.

I was reading about the message of this new film in the successful Pixar franchise. What I understand is that this Toy Story installment warns us about the trappings of the online world, especially when it comes to children. Technology can have its place in a child’s life as long as it’s not allowed to be all-consuming.

I saw this quirky posting on Twitter and it made me laugh, in a nervous way. I hope this is not what will happen this Sunday in the cinema. If it does then we should all start to panic.

Last week we attended a concert at the Newton Prep primary school and the Bunster sang his heart out. We loved every minute of it and it was good for the soul.

There were about 70 kids all around age 5. This is reception year for the Bun man and he seems to enjoy his school. He has a cool group of friends, from all over the world.

Before the concert began one of the teachers made some announcements, about the fire alarm and other safety things. And then this warm sounding teacher spoke about something which has stuck in my head. She suggested that everyone put their phones away. She did go onto to say, “By all means, take photos and videos”, but she explained that when we are taking photos and videos the kids only see our phones and not our faces, and she emphasized at how they want to see our faces.

I took a few photos right at the end but my phone was away for the concert. And the Bunster was looking right at us. I assume this was the case for each kid there. They need to be acknowledged and affirmed. The Bun man wants us to be proud of him. He actually asks us, “Are you proud of me?” I can just melt.

It was such a beautiful experience and the kids were amazing. How the music teacher gets them to do all of that is just beyond me. We can’t get the Bun man to sit still when eating dinner, and yet, for an hour, he was singing and bopping, and he was so cool. I did not want it to end. I felt very blessed to be able to be there and to experience love like this.

My last thought on this mad phone-photo culture that has consumed the planet : how many sunsets have we all taken pictures and videos of on our phones? And how many times do we look at these photos and videos? Most of us never look at what we have captured ever again. So why do we do it? How many of life’s magical moments are we missing out on because of these digital distractions?

None of the kids in Bun’s reception group have a phone and I hope none of them get one anytime soon. I grew up without a mobile phone in my pocket and I survived. These phones have their uses, sure, but also, they are taking something away from all of us. To be present we need to put away our phones.