“There’s no Ukraine I am used to. The Russians had destroyed it.” — In the months preceding the war, Anna’s inner circle brushed off any possibility of Russia invading Ukraine. They didn’t give it much thought as they watched the news of oligarchs sending their children abroad or witnessing the Russian embassy burn their files, causing a massive smoke. “It’s one of their…

‘The lack of freedom of speech always leads to grave political consequences.’ — In April 2021, Meduza — the most prominent Russian independent publication — was labelled a “foreign agent”, a mark that’s been used profusely by the Kremlin to disrupt the work of news organisations and independent journalists touching on sensitive political issues. This label, jokingly referred to by Sonya Groysman —…

CHORNOMORSK, UKRAINE — When the Russian bombs started firing on February 24th, it was still before dawn in Arina’s home city, some 15 kilometers from the port-city Odesa (population 1M). The sound immediately shook Arina, her sister, and her parents out of bed. “I immediately understood what was happening. I…

I am embarrassed. — I’ll be honest. I don’t like writing or talking about politics. Where I am from, nobody does. My generation — people born in the late 1990s — was brought up in a dictatorship country with no rights and no ability to voice our minds. We were sold the idea that…

‘It was difficult not to think about the distance I’ve covered or that I’ve never run farther than 37K.’ — The race I spent the entire summer preparing for took place in Sherwood Pines — a 15-minute taxi ride from the nearest town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, a 2.5-hour train ride from London. We arrived on a Saturday and stayed overnight at a spacious Airbnb, where I prepared my snacks, ordered…

Yesterday, I visited the National Portrait Gallery in London. I am one of those Londoners who don’t make use of the fact that they are Londoners. Which is to say, I rarely visit places like the NPG or the British Museum. But my wife makes me do those things; she…

‘Give your mind a job to do, or else it will find a job, and you might not like the job it invents.’ — Give your mind a job to do, or else it will find a job to do, and you might not like the job it invents. Like, eating the couch. Or destroying your life. Understanding this has taken me a long time and many psychotherapy sessions. But it does seem to…

‘The question is not who you think you are or who society says you should be. It’s, who will you be tomorrow?’ — My great-grandfather (my father’s father’s father), Alexey, is currently 93 years old. There are two interesting facts about him: 1) he had only worked at one job his entire life (building missiles and machinery in a Soviet factory), and 2) he had only read one book in his life (a…

‘If running creates a void, then writing fills it.’ — I can’t seem to write recently. Other than my newsletter and a few bits of journalism here and there — which can hardly be called ‘creative writing’ and falls more under the bracket of ‘technical writing’ or ‘reporting’ — I haven’t written anything in months. To say that it freaks…