Harsh Reality of Life Outside Kyiv 🇺🇦

Live in peace, take care of your health. Angel of the Guardian, so that you don't get sick. She only wants peace from the whole world. She wants to wish health, good health to everybody. And she wants to end the war. Thank you. Thank you very much. You too. Okay, everyone. So we are about 30 minutes into our drive. We are heading into an area north of the city of Kiev. The Kiev region. And sitting beside me, if you've been watching the series, you recognize this guy. The great and powerful Joe Lindsley. Hello. Our driver today, Anton. Yeah. How are you doing today? Cool, cool. How about you? Doing great. And beside him is... Maria. Hi. Great to meet you as well. Nice to meet you. Here is Hostomel. Home to the Osmo Airport, which was one of the biggest battles in the first few days of the war. For viewers who might not have the full context, this was very early in 2022, right? We're talking like maybe March, when the first Russian push was coming. And the city of Kiev was actually, I think it's fair to say, in jeopardy. Like this was the early days. Everything was the Russian push forward. Imagine you're living in New York City and you're seeing a foreign army devastating New Jersey. I mean, this is just kind of unthinkable how close this was to the capital city. Oh my God. Anton, will we be able to stop? Yes, of course. For example, even here, just to... Okay, okay. This is the first result of the war in Burdank, Russian invasion. You can film it. Could you ask her to listen? She said she's okay if it's on? Yeah, yeah, yeah. What is her name and where is she from? Is she from this community? She told me that she's Katerina. She has been in the shelter all this time. She lives in Burdanka and right now she's going to father from the church. She's looking for food and I hope we right now can help her. Yeah. Maybe she can have a sandwich. Yeah, of course. Right now we can end the conversation and we can help. She told that this is the first place because over there it's a huge amount of destroyed houses and killed people. Was her house destroyed by the attack? Yeah. Her building is destroyed too. We're destroyed too. And right now he's in reconstruction. Yeah. They put new windows. There is no light. Can you not film? Can I help you a little bit if you don't mind? You can. Hold this. Let God bless the guardian angel. There is a red mark on the other side. She's going to the church because there is only one place where she can find food or tea. Because right now the moment in her house, of course, you have heard that there is no windows, there is no electricity, there is no water. If I can ask one quick question. Okay. There are people from other countries. Is there a message you would like to say, something you would like people to understand? To live in peace, to be healthy. Guardian angel, so they don't get sick. So they don't go to war, so they don't send their families, mothers, fathers, mothers, children. She only wants peace from the whole world. She wants to wish health, good health to everybody. And she wants to end the war. My hands are shaking a bit. I'm not going to lie. This is one thing to see from the car. I mean the car is intense as well, but the buildings are passing so quick. And to meet that woman, to see these sights behind me. We're going to keep moving. The graffiti artist Banksy visited this area recently and made some artwork. We're going to show you what that's like. We're going to visit a few places today, but I just have to take a moment here. There's no words, really. There's no words. So we just stopped for a coffee in an area called Bucha. What do you think, Anton, as a Ukrainian? Do you think foreign countries have been doing enough? Have you felt helped in this time? Or do you feel a bit like it is us against Russia and the world is just watching? I think they can give more help to Ukraine. But I don't know what kind of help can they do at the moment. Because it's really tough to explain these things. Because we are living in Ukraine right now at the moment. And we feel every single hit, every single missile. We heard it. We see the massacres and slaughter. We see the Mariupol. Is it enough to understand this situation? Is it enough or not? Because this is the main question. This is a great question to ask yourself. I don't know. Look at the size. He's very demanding. He's like, where's my sandwich? Give a Ukrainian dog a snack and you make a friend for life. Look at this. Goodbye, buddy. Stay safe, okay? You probably saw those friendly local people of the community pointing us in the right direction here. Smiles on their faces in spite of everything. I mean, this is the story of Ukraine. See the children's playground. This was a kindergarten behind us. More apartments just destroyed. And there it is behind the rubble covered in snow. You might have seen this on the Internet. A young boy judo-flipping Vladimir Putin on a bit of rubble here an hour outside of Kyiv. Nice. One more. Thank you. Welcome. Overwhelming is the word that comes to mind. We don't mind you taking the camera. If you want to look up somewhere. Her name is Yulia. Julia. Julia, Dan. Nice to meet you, Julia. Julia, were you here the day the Russians arrived? Or were you somewhere else? On the first air missiles attack, they went outside of the Burdjanka. A couple of years ago, she had lost her mother by coronavirus. And she told that this war left all the pictures of her childhood. All the pictures of her childhood. And she even cannot see her story. She has so many memories. And that's it. Just memories without any confirmation, without any photos and so on. You know, I like to keep everything. When a child is born, some first notes. When you want something, but you don't have it. Yes. Civilians, nothing to do with the conflict. On the ground, to survive. So this is the reality. This is the reality of the citizens of Burdjanka. I know we all have to go. I'd like to ask one last question. In spite of everything. What is it that you love about Ukraine? What is it that you love about your country? She was born in Ukraine. Her parents were born in Ukraine. Her daughter was born in Ukraine. She is happy to be Ukrainian. This is the best country for her, for her daughter. A couple of years ago, a lot of people wanted to go abroad, to live in other countries. For example, in the United States or in Europe. But right now, things change. And a lot of people, a lot of Ukrainians want to be in Ukraine for the final point of this war and will continue to live in Ukraine. Thank you so much. Thank you. There it is. Amidst the rubble. Ballerina, but also it could be someone falling. I was just saying to these guys, whenever the media shows pictures of the Banksy's, you don't see... Exactly where it is, what Banksy wants to show the entire... Because now I see... Yeah, I mean she's literally between the falling rocks. Right across the street from this, Ukrainian flag hanging high and there are people waiting for the bus on this weekday afternoon. So as you can clearly see, these are average neighborhoods, filled with average people, whose lives have been devastated by this war in Ukraine. If these sites are moving to you, if you feel a need to help in some way, I encourage you to check out the fundraising effort that I have attached to this video series. Even for a few dollars, we can make a big difference. We can bring warm clothing, medical supplies, and much more to the front lines and show Ukraine that they are not alone. Finally, I would like to thank United24, their media group who made this video possible. Anton, our driver today, is part of the organization and they give me access to places that would be very difficult for me to visit on my own. They make great content over on their YouTube channel, which I will link to as well, and I encourage you to check out. I'm grateful to you all for watching, for caring about content like this, and for supporting it, sharing it, doing whatever you can. It really touches my heart. As always, I'm Dan from The New Travel, and I will see you next time from Ukraine.