Year: 2022

Paweł Pieniążek – 2/27/2022. Originally published in Tygodnik Powszechny. DISPATCH FROM KYIV | When I got here, a friend left me the key to his apartment. I didn’t meet my friend again after returning from the trip to Kharkiv. I hope now that this key will still be of use to him one day. When I left Kabul last January, I forgot to leave my friend the keys …

Paweł Pieniążek – 2/28/2022. Originally published in Tygodnik Powszechny. After a day and a half of lockdown, the city’s inhabitants replenish their supplies. No one knows if stores will open tomorrow | CORRESPONDENCE FROM KYIV Due to an extended curfew, the people of Kyiv had to spend one and a half days at home. The three-million-strong city of Kyiv seemed completely deserted. During the curfew the territorial defense …

Paweł Pieniąźek from Kyiv – 02/23/2022. Originally published in Tygodnik Powszechny. The capital’s military store has been under siege since the threat of another Russian attack began to loom over Ukraine. It’s hard to squeeze between the hangers and shelves of the store in the late afternoon. Customers and curious people browse winter jackets (one was recently bought by the Minister of Defense, and earlier also by the …

Paweł Pieniążek – 02/24/2022. Originally published in Tygodnik Powszechny. Kharkiv | The building in Piatykhatky is one of the first to suffer from the Russian invasion of Ukraine. “Fortunately, the rocket did not explode, otherwise we would not be standing here,” says 40-year-old Yuri. Moments after 5 in the morning, there was a barrage. Mykhailo, 25, instinctively jumped up from the futon. He wanted to run out into …

Paweł Pieniążek from Kharkiv – 02/24/2022. Originally published in Tygodnik Powszechny. At five in the morning, I was awakened by bangs. The sound was unmistakable. I knew it had begun.  Tetiana, a middle-aged woman, engages me in conversation on the metro. This is the second hour that she has spent trying to get to Gagarin prospect in southern Kharkiv. “There is no space in the marshrutkas [minibus taxis]. …

Paweł Pieniąźek from Kyiv – 02/19/2022 Oleh uses an app where he records how he spends his time. It asks him if he spent the day as if it were his last. Recently, Oleh has been asking himself this question too. Every day. He strives not to regret any of them. Early Tuesday afternoon, Reuters started broadcasting live from Kyiv; the camera was placed overlooking Independence Square. The …

Paweł Pieniąźek from Kyiv – 02/22/2022 The growing threat of Russian aggression means that more and more Ukrainians are deciding to prepare themselves to defend the country. An abandoned factory on the outskirts of Kyiv has been put to new use: The training of territorial defense reservists every Saturday. A more experienced group practices securing the facility, setting up camp in run-down buildings. Recruits who have just come …