The Resistance Cafés of Lviv
Saturday War Update
Within the videos of this newsletter are tributes to fallen young warriors, sounds of Ukrainian music from rock to classical, and stories from life in resistance mode.
LVIV—This week, I’ve traveled to Kyiv, Kharkiv, and back to Lviv, showing a foreign journalist the reality of life in war, from the bombed-out buildings of Saltivka, Kharkiv, where people are repairing their flats despite rocket holes in their buildings, to Lviv where there are near-daily military funerals.
In my WGN reports below, I show scenes of life in Lviv in this time of war: listen to the music of Mozart Jr in a café after a funeral, hear what it’s like to walk the cobbled streets of the city seeing all kinds of people working on the war effort.
This week we also discussed the Russian propaganda effort at the Academy Awards: Note how little Russia dissident Navalny speaks of Ukraine.
Plus: Poland and Slovakia send fighter jets to Ukraine, something that weeks ago seemed unlikely. And the death toll in Bakhmut gets worse and worse but Ukrainians still hold. —Joe Lindsley
“[It's something rare in our world of corporate and automated radio regular, real humanity.”
—Neil Steinberg, in the Chicago Sun-Times, on Joe Lindsley’s daily Ukraine reports with Bob Sirott of Chicago’s WGN Radio. We invite you to follow on YouTube.
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DAILY WAR JOURNAL—ON CHICAGO’S WGN RADIO:
The Resistance Cafés of Lviv
LVIV—Behind the bar in the cafe was waiting for me an extra bulletproof vest, dropped off by someone in case i needed it. Whether in a church, crowded at midday on a Thursday, on the cobbled streets, or the cafés everywhere here you meet people standing for freedom. In Kharkiv I saw the physical wounds of the war. In Lviv, the emotional. In both places: tired, but unbroken spirits.
War Day 387: The Sweetness of Music in the Tragedy of War
Listen hear to the music of Mozart’s son, Franz, who composed in Lviv:
In a Lviv café, people listened in silence to the classical music of Mozart's son, Franz, who lived and composed in this city for many years. In those moments of reflection, people thought of sweetness of peace time, past and future--amid unfolding tragic news as Ukrainians fight against masses of Russian invaders.
War Day 385: Reflections from a Ukrainian War-Time Train
"He has just leveled up and joined heavenly troops." KYIV—Having just arrived by train from Kharkiv on the Ides of March, I explain how all of Ukraine, the largest country in Europe, feels like a village of superheroes: everyone working for victory in different ways. Meanwhile, as more young heroes die, the question remains: Does the West really want speedy victory?
War Day 384: Ukraine and Free People vs Moscow and Beijing
KHARKIV—Reporting from the city's Saltivka neighbourhood, devastated but still-rebuilding amid shelling, I share the words of a friend fighting in Bakhmut, and we discuss what China is trying to do and the music of Ukrainian band Antytlia, singing about freedom even before the big invasion.
War Day 383: Navalny, real or fake?
LVIV—“The [Biden] administration doesn’t have a clear policy objective and a clear goal. Is it to drag this thing out, which is precisely what Vladimir Putin wants?” said Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas). As Ukraine's poets and heroes die in battle, is the free world serious about Ukrainian victory?
“[It's something rare in our world of corporate and automated radio regular, real humanity.”
—Neil Steinberg, in the Chicago Sun-Times, on Joe Lindsley’s daily Ukraine reports with Bob Sirott of Chicago’s WGN Radio. We invite you to follow on YouTube.
*UKRAINIAN FREEDOM NEWS: Please support us by subscribing and sharing this newsletter with your friends, colleagues, and family. Donations welcome here.*
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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. Every weekday since late February 2022, he has reported live from Ukraine on Chicago’s WGN Radio with host Bob Sirott. You can listen to all episodes at UkrainianFreedomNews.com or via our YouTube channel.
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UKRAINIAN FREEDOM NEWS
Truth to the World | Supplies to Ukraine
Joe Lindsley, Editor-in-chief
Vitalii Gulden, Creative Producer
Beata Szrom, Operations Director
Pavlo Vitenko, Chief Reporter
Anton Hutyriak, Associate Editor
Luka Oleschyuk, Video Editor
Jean-Baptiste Besson, Field Editor
Brennan Phillips, War Columnist