I haven’t used this site much over the past few years, but it seems like a good time to restart. Since it was mostly for travel — which turned out to be mostly to Ukraine — and there hasn’t been much travel — to Ukraine or most anywhere else — there hasn’t been much to post. Now, though, there’s a lot going on in Ukraine and I’ve got a connection to it, so travel or not, it’s time to post.

When things first started, I sent some text messages, but the thread I used didn’t include everyone. I don’t think I need to post those here, but I can if anyone feels left out. I was doing an update for everyone today, and switched over to a different app (my cell phone instead of the house phone app) so I’ve been able to send word to all family members (I hope!). But I’m going to start putting those messages here too, just for a record. Plus, it will messages and posts about the current crisis in the same place with what I wrote back when Russia first invaded. It will be interesting to see if my perspectives have changed over that time.

For now, though, here’s the current update. I won’t include most of the readily available news, because the news organizations have that covered. No, these are more personal updates, about the people and places most dear to Viktoria and me.

Not a lot has changed in Ukraine for Viktoria’s family and friends. They are all still safe, by and large, but the situation around Mariupol is changing. Viktoria’s son is still stuck out west on a farm, a few hours outside of Lviv. It’s owned by the sister of one of Viktoria’s oldest friends. We’re not sure what will happen next for him, because travel in any direction is difficult. Mariupol is being surrounded on three sides. They’ve been on the eastern side of the city for several years; a push from that side is probably happening, but I haven’t read any updates regarding that direction. Still, being only a dozen miles away, it’s probably one of the shorter haps that the Russians have to make. Russian forces have moved in from the west and are currently at Berdyansk, a ‘resort’ town along the coast that I’ve been to a couple times. That puts those forces only a couple hours from Mariupol, so a push from that direction could come at any time (and probably sooner rather than later). To the north, fighting around Volnovakha (about an hour away) has been back and forth; Ukraine controls it right now, but it’s under heavy shelling. It’s a key railroad junction so it does have significant strategic importance. There is lots of news about Kyiv, Kharkiv and Kherson, but seems like the only Russian gains are along the coast and that’s what’s putting Mariupol in the greatest danger.

[Update 2/27/2022: the content below has been edited to include people’s names — not just their abbreviations — and for a little extra clarity because of this change.]

Viktoria has been in touch with her son Zhenya and both directly/indirectly with people in Mariupol. Her nephew Rodion, his grandmother (Baba Katya), and Baba Katya’s niece Oksana and family are staying at Viktoria’s mother’s apartment. Zhenya’s girlfriend Katya 2, her son Vanya, her mother Nellie and her mother’s friend are staying at Zhenya’s apartment. Both apartments are in the same building, so everyone’s together and can help each other out. Katya 2’s father and grandmother are in Volnovakha and can’t leave, and naturally everyone is worried about them. Although he has a car, his mother is 92 (a concern) and the road between Volnovakha and Mariupol is not that safe. Their electricity is out right now, so he’s probably using his phone sparingly. Another concern — as if people needed another one — is that neither Viktoria nor Zhenya have been able to contact Zhenya’s son Artem or his mother, Katya 1. Their house is on the eastern side of Mariupol, which is rather close the shelling coming Mariupol’s way. A smaller village that direction (Sartana) has already taken a lot of damage. There have been organized evacuations from that part of the city/suburbs, so hopefully they are just caught up in the shuffle of all that and haven’t yet been able to communicate out.

I’ll do a post at some later point with all the person abbreviations. [Ed – no longer needed.] I’ll also post some links to news sites that tend to watch. Like I mentioned above, you’ll hear a lot of news about Kyiv and a couple other big cities, and while I do know a couple of programmers in Kyiv, I tend to be more focused on Mariupol. (I will say that CNN seems to have a pretty good feed about the events in Ukraine.)