As I prepare to leave Kyiv Wednesday, here are notes on issues not covered in my earlier posts. Or where I would like to amend previous statements. The posts in question are First Impressions, Culture, Religion and Education, Ukraine’s Strengths and Weaknesses, and Ukraine’s Opportunities and Threats.
Kyiv’s restaurants are really good and cheap for those who live on dollars or euros. I’ve enjoyed not only traditional and modernized Ukrainian but also Georgian, Crimean, Turkish, and Korean cuisine. I’ve even had a good American breakfast. French and Belgian are available, but neither really entices me these days. Italian we reserve for home and Italy. I haven’t tried the Mexican, but it’s here.
Street food is good too. Sandwiches are of all sorts, often on decent croissants or other good bread. Abundant cakes, strudels, and sweets are available everywhere. Coffee and tea are omnipresent, not only in restaurants and coffee bars but also at street kiosks. The ice cream is no great shakes, but McDonalds suffices in a pinch.
I am told beggars and homeless people are more common away from the Kyiv city center, where I am lodged. But my range is pretty wide–three miles in any direction is more or less my limit. I’ve done that in virtually all directions and found little obvious destitution. I won’t say it isn’t there. Just that it isn’t as evident as in DC.
Empty storefronts are also not as common as in DC, which has not recovered fully from the epidemic closures. While everyone here is hoping for an improved economy once the war ends, it doesn’t seem in terrible shape. GDP contracted slightly in the fourth quarter of 2024 but projections until 2028 are for 5% growth. The main problem is lack of major investment, which is understandable in wartime. Ukraine will need to do a lot to attract foreign direct investment once the war ends.
Most Ukrainians dress for comfort, not success, as do most Americans. If anything, street clothes in Kyiv are even more informal than in DC: sneakers, jeans, sweatpants prevail. Definitely not smart casual. Professors are mostly in that category as well. But in the evenings women sometimes appear in outfits that remind me of the strange fashions of Communist Eastern Europe. At the conference I attended, most of the men were accoutered in ties and suits and women in the equivalents. I was the odd one out there.
I continue to be impressed with Ukrainian equanimity. I still haven’t seen two Ukrainians arguing, but a few speeding motorcycles and non-muffled cars suggest youthful frustrations. Many restaurants allow you to pay your bill online without interacting with a waiter. That suggests a great deal of mutual confidence. Everyplace takes contactless credit cards, even for very small charges. No one gets annoyed with an American who can’t speak Ukrainian or Russian. We manage to communicate without too much fuss. Cell phones help.
Though not very devout, I went to Shabbat services at the only Reform synagogue Friday night. It was a modest affair with perhaps 20 participants, half a dozen of them on Zoom. The main rabbi was in Israel. The substitute rabbi spoke in Russian from Germany. One of the younger participants was assigned to try to help me, but her English was limited. So I joined the Hebrew when I knew the tunes, suffered rudimentary post-service conversations, and left without feeling much renewed. But at least I can testify that Reform has its place and adherents in Kyiv.
I’ll be 12 hours on a jiggly train to Poland Wednesday. Then a 1.5 hour wait and another 2.5 hours on a smoother train to get to Warsaw late in the evening. Only to get up again well before dawn to fly to Munich and DC. So more or less 48 hours of travel.
I can’t say I am looking forward to the trip. But the experience here has been super. Seeing people face war and destruction with determination and commitment is inspiring. And I’m pleased to see how they go about their business with equanimity. I’ve heard some angry denunciations of Russian behavior, especially in stealing children from occupied areas of Ukraine. But nothing that went much beyond what the facts would support. Kyivans seem more concerned to maintain their own composure than to tangle rhetorically with Moscow. They want to win the war, not destroy Russia. The inverse cannot be said in Moscow.
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