Scenes of Resilience, Hope, Thanksgiving, Music—Amid Russian Darkness and Destruction
REAL STORIES IN REAL WAR-TIME from our team throughout Ukraine, at the edge of the free world.
It’s Tuesday evening in Kyiv. Sometimes I cannot sleep until the alarm sounds. When the threat arrives, I am peaceful. Many, looking at open-source intelligence, are predicting that the Russian orcs have a barrage of 160 missiles ready to hit Ukraine. This would be the most-ever in one day. Of course this leads to an uneasy spirit—and yet everyone is cheerful and calm. Such calmness is contagious and a real power.
Here are two videos: a highlight reel with footage from the cafés and trenches of Ukraine and my full conversation on Monday with Chicago WGN Radio’s Bob Sirott, part of my daily Ukraine report.
Highlight reel:
FROM LVIV—On Monday, amid a strange time with no air-alarms, I shared these Ukraine scenes with the @wgnradio audience
(1) How Ukrainians keep going, and how I heard about a friend who lost a limb. [in video are the great Lviv cafès @sino.experimental @porcomarco2021 @liliya.tupychka@we10co @tanyaholubec]
(2) The meaning of Thanksgiving: free-hearted people in China, Iran, Ukraine, the USA, everywhere must stand together
(3) The cheerful defiance of the Ukrainians: My friend Yaroslav the owner of the @perron7_jazz_club Peron No 7 jazz club in Odesa says that all these russian attacks have trained Ukrainians to be invincible. At the end of clip: “Oh when that Russian ships effs itself,” to the tune of “Oh When the Saints Go Marching In.”
(4 and 5) Remember this: Ukraine doesn’t attack Russian cities and towns. They only defend their territory. But how can you stop Moscow if you don’t fight it directly?
(6) Thanksgiving dinner in Lviv, with my friend Chicago chef @chefrobnuey , a US special forces veteran who leads action-charity @ua_lifeline_ , and Ukrainians and foreign volunteers: a small break amid friends with @carolinecappy@paintingthefuture.ua @alexander.denysenko @yatsenkotaras@veronik_a333 @jb.bess @thenewtravel @benya.stewart@brother.hill
(7) amazing bread and pizza prepared by candlelight at @porcomarco2021 in Lviv (inspired by @tartinebakery@kenforkish )
Full episode:
We must remember, as a Ukrainian friend said and as statesmen such as Churchill knew, “Unpunished evil grows.”
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"Joseph Lindsley's reports are enlightening, frightening, heart-wrenchingly and poetically descriptive." —a regular listener to the daily report from Ukraine on Chicago's WGN Radio with Bob Sirott
American journalist Joe Lindsley, in Ukraine since 2020, leads the Ukrainian Freedom News team of Ukrainians and foreigners on a mission to share real talk and real life in war-time with the world.
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