On a vast snowy field, deep in the heart of Ukraine, a military unit cycles through all the weapons at their disposal… shooting semi automatic guns, flying drones, testing out the latest kit being developed by entrepreneurs from around the country. A siren blares in the distance; the soldiers barely blink. The day is sunny but cold, below freezing; everyone … Read More
Ukrainian dishes at… well… Ukrainian Dishes
We were doomed from the start. We had started our work day too early to eat breakfast… spent all morning outside in the cold… and as the hours passed the temperature dropped and the precipitation arrived. By lunch time we were cold, shivering, and starving. The standard advice is to never go grocery shopping on an empty stomach — but … Read More
Running and Gunning in Ukraine
With its skies and airports shut down since the February 2022 invasion, the only way to get in and around Ukraine is by car and by train. And the country is vast: getting to Kharkiv, for example, is the equivalent of flying to Boston and then driving to Chicago. If you did the drive straight from the Poland airport, it … Read More
Svitlo Cafe & Bar: Betting Big on Dnipro despite the War
In the center of Dnipro, on “Executive Committee” Street, stands a building that was constructed in 1867. For decades it contained several floors of meeting rooms, a synogogue, and a basement apartment for the rabbi. When the Germans attacked the Soviet Union in the Second World War, Nazis bombed this building… but the rabbi had gathered members of the congregation … Read More
“Lady Wine” in Liberated Kherson
As Russian forces made their hasty retreat to the eastern bank of the Dnieper River, they destroyed as much of Kherson’s infrastructure as they could: power lines, the water system, cell phone towers, bridges, parts of the grid. So those left behind – the liberated Ukrainians of Kherson – were no longer living in abject terror, but they were very … Read More