Kyiv of Mine: Life, loss and love in a city under siege - Ronnie Apteker
Key topics
Over 600 drones hit Kyiv in one night, terrorising the city
Ukraine's spirit remains amid war fatigue, trauma, and destruction
New docuseries Kyiv Of Mine captures a city's soul and resilience
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By Ronnie Apteker
I was at home in Kyiv last month. It was not an easy time. The Russian attacks on the city are more deadly than ever, and the frequency has also increased. There was one night when we got out of the bomb shelter at 5 am. It was a Wednesday night and the strike on Ukraine’s capital lasted 10 hours. There were over 600 drones and over a dozen ballistic missiles that Russia sent to Kyiv to terrorize the city that one night. And the night before and after were no walk in the park either. It is just insane.
Everyone is constantly exhausted, and this is pure terrorism. From my perspective the world has forgotten about this tragedy. And maybe that is just how life is. Everyone has their own problems to deal with. But if Ukraine falls it will have a big effect on everyone. The dictators of the world will start making moves. And the global world order will become more fractured. Also, supermarket prices will go up, as Ukraine is a major food contributor globally, amongst other things.
If you look at the statistics that are published every week, the latest figures estimate that over 1,050,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or injured since the start of their full scale invasion. This is a huge number. But Putin doesn’t seem to care. He will not stop, unless he is stopped. This I believe more than ever. The view in Ukraine is that Putin will try and attack one of the Baltic countries next, probably Estonia. He will see how far he can push the West. I don’t believe Trump will come to Estonia’s aid if Russia attacks them. And at that point NATO is then truly a thing of the past. These are dangerous times, in my view.
In Ukraine life goes on, bombs and all. As someone said to me “We want to keep living. But not in bomb shelters.” It is often surreal and very hard to comprehend. You can be sitting in a cool, trendy eating spot, having a gourmet pizza, and the next minute an air raid siren goes off, and the vibe changes.
The full scale war is in its fourth year and there is no end in sight. Most now believe that it will only end when Putin dies, and even then, no one is sure it will then end. This is not Putin’s war. This is a Russian invasion.
In Kyiv the mood is low. Everyone is so tired, and anxious. No one can plan a future in this current state. Half way through the war, towards the autumn of 2023 there was optimism in Ukraine. You could feel the spirit wherever you turned. There was the anticipated counter-offensive, the attacks on Ukranian cities were not as visious or as often, and whoever wanted to volunteer to go to the army did so. In the autumn of 2023 there was this thinking that the war was a temporary thing. And now we can see it is a permanent thing. There seems to be no vision now – just a big deadly grind that will go on for years.
By 2024 the mood had changed a lot. The counter-offensive of the previous year did not yield the results everyone had hoped for. Russia started to hit the electrical and heating infrastructure of Ukraine. And the Ukrainian military went on a big recruitment drive with new mobilisation laws coming into effect. Then the promised American aid was stalled by over 7 months, and when Trump was elected as the president of America towards the end of that year, then the mood hit an all time low. Trump has not been good to Ukraine, but everyone lives in hope. Perhaps now Trump will finally put some real pressure on Putin. No one believes this will happen though. Trump is making a lot of encouraging noises in the media of late, but most people don’t have faith that Trump will actually do something to make Putin’s life more difficult. According to the latest White House statements tomorrow is the big day. Does anyone reading this think that the TACO memes will start flowing again by this weekend?
Now in the second half of 2025 life still goes on in Ukraine, but people are struggling more than ever. Alcoholism, smoking and online gambling are on the rise. Divorce rates are sky high. Trauma is everywhere. You see amputees in the city. Not a lot, but enough to notice. The number will keep rising. The economy is tight, and nothing is easy or simple. And of course, people are dying. Innocent people are being hit by missiles and drones just about every other night. Then there is also the destruction. If a dozen people die during a night in a Ukrainian city then that is terrible. But what we don’t read about in the news are the hundreds more that lost their homes during an evening strike. What happens to all these people? So many families have lost everything. And this terror does not stop. Day after day. Night after night.
The thing about Ukraine, and Kyiv specifically, is that it is so soulful. With so much creative spirit, talent, beauty and inspiration. Why would anyone want to destroy this magical city?! It is all so hard to believe. I have such a love for this city and what it represents that in 2018 we started on a documentary film project about modern day life in Kyiv. It has been years of work, and there was the pandemic in the middle, and then started the full scale Russian invasion. It has been one wild and difficult ride, and this story is far from over. Our work has been an intense labour of love called “Kyiv Of Mine” and it goes live on YouTube later this month. It is a film series that is a love letter to Kyiv. It shows us what the world will miss out on if Kyiv ceases to exist. Kyiv, and the rest of Ukraine, cannot be allowed to be destroyed by Russia. There is something magical here that is worth protecting. Worth nurturing. Worth investing in. Worth understanding.
Trailer for Kyiv of Mine : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arJUcE1rxY0&t=17s
This documentary series goes live this month on the 24th of August on Independence Day. There will be 3 chapters initially. The vision is to create more chapters in the months and years ahead. Kyiv has to be one of the best-kept secrets in the world. To anyone who knows this place, there was the view that Ukraine’s capital was on track to be one of the hot spots of Europe. Creativity and entrepreneurship were on the rise, and you often would hear that Kyiv was the next Berlin.