Day 683ish
Fortress Ukraine
The photo is of entrance No. 1, according to Google Street Maps. You can’t get into Kyiv Pechersk Lavra without paying, except during church services. On January 1, I thought (mistakenly) they had waived the rules . That was Day 677ish, when I was there last.
My destination yesterday was the lower lavra, No. 8, where a bunch of weird buildings popped up during the 00s under disgraced ex-President Yanukovych. He had planned to donate the entire compound to the Russian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate). The grounds belong to Ukrainian state, which is figuring out what to do with them.
Lots of talk about Plan A, Plan B, Plan C, etc. But there’s only one plan - survival.
As of this writing early Monday morning, at least a dozen Ту-95МС strategic bombers are making their way to the Caspian Sea, where they will launch cruise missiles at major Ukrainian cities, probably including Kyiv. The temperature is -12C. The missiles, if they will be launched, will arrive around 0700.