Day 1433

The big melt

Depending on the robustness of your cardiovascular system, Kyiv is practically balmy this week—despite foreign media solemnly informing the world that we are all freezing to death¹²³. The city sits on the ragged edge of the great purplish low-pressure blob smothering European Russia, which means temperatures may flirt with 0°C today and tomorrow.

The ground hasn’t gotten the memo. Pavements and streets remain brutally cold, so every bout of half-rain, half-snow mist instantly flash-freezes into a delicate, treacherous glaze. Uncleared sidewalks are coated in a good half-inch of it, growing slicker by the minute as everything turns to slush. Lots of people walking around with broken arms after slipping.

Janine’s article for The Guardian uses the same pic as Viktor Yuschcenko’s Instagram post. The comparison between Troieshchyna and Sarajevo is inapt. The siege began in April 1992 and caught the city unprepared. Ukraine had the entire 2022-2023 winter as a preview, then 2023-2024, then all…