A Short Update From Alex In Ukraine

 Dear friends,

Today I visited the village of Zhukin. This village is located to the North of Kyiv oblast. Originally I was planning to visit Desna, a city in Chernigov oblast, but due to a recent missile attack on a military center there, where more than 300 recruits were killed and more than 200 were injured. Without special permission I could not visit Desna.

On the way to Zhukin I travelled through Irpin and Kyiv city. The highway to Kyiv was more or less cleaned from the remains of the burned cars and tanks, but the evidence of war is still very obvious. What was previously a prosperous suburb of Kyiv now is land of desolation.

It used to be my favorite stop for borsch. 

 The village administrator of Zhukin Valentina told me that their small village hosted more than 300 hundred families, mainly from Chernihiv oblast. I brought them boxes of food and clothing which I picked up at Zhitomir Community foundations.

On the way back to Zhitomir I stopped at the gas station that would not have any lines for a long time. Before the war I would stop at these gas stations with my tour members for what I called 4 star toilets.

Video: https://photos.app.goo.gl/1LZDh9rTdiuaFKnN8

This is a video of what you could see on the highway to Kyiv

Video: https://photos.app.goo.gl/yjecJhwXCWXXq3TLA

I was so proud to see Polish and Ukrainian flags flying on the bridge in Makariv district. I was happy to see two of my favorite flags together. 

Video: https://photos.app.goo.gl/jwaF8XTVkR4VTZZR6 

On the other note. My observation. When I talked to my tour members from North America I heard that they like their life but most of them did not like their political leaders. In Russia most of the people hate their life and complain about it a lot but they mostly like their leader, Putin. What a huge difference!

 Alex