Dnipro, Saturday 31 Oct, Morning
Autumn is blending into Winter slowly, winds are cold, mornings cold, afternoons cold, and trees rushing to drop their leaves. We have had very little real rain in Dnipro and I have driven south of Zaporoshnye and through Kharkov and Poltava on evacuation trips and they seem the same. The rasputitsa may well be bypassed this year as already the cold is hardening the ground, so we may miss the traditional mud quagmire...thankgod. Having said that, it will probably piss down for the next week and prove me wrong.
Attacks around Ukraine are now constant, Dnipro, Zaporoshnye and Kiev are under almost constant drone or rocket attack. Even when the alarms stop, they are silent for only 10-20 minutes. People are not scared, but increasingly wary now as to where they go, and don't loiter around anywhere. I won't allow my partner or kids to go to the shops or petrol stations anymore, I know the risk not high, but any risk is too much if it can be avoided. Businesses I know are shutting down everywhere. It's impossible to run business like this. Every day we read of some official or other fleeing Ukraine for the west, still not a single charge by either Nabu or Saps....
The Rada has introduced a law to take effect from Dec 4 that on my reading of it will require every business in Ukraine to cease work and close its doors during any alarm. If so, that is the end of any economy in Ukraine. Even now, many business will close, especially Nova Poshta, Epicentre or petrol stations, meaning people must simply park and wait for alarms to stop, not knowing if it will stop in 10 mins or 4 hours. The attached photos show you a typical day in Dnipro now for air raid alarms.......
Power has been off and on, we have had a full day without power, and a few 2-3 hour breaks, tbh i think that's pretty remarkable all things considered, but of course everyone knows worse is to come.
Food and fuel are increasing in cost, petrol is around usd 2 a litre, diesel closer to 3, but so far I haven't noticed any shortage in supply except western brands which are becoming scarce.
Volunteers for evacuation and medical supply runs are needed, in quite short supply now, many of those Ukrainians who were volunteers, which used to give them exemption have had their deferments revoked, meaning they will be mobilised if stopped, we had this exact thing happen on one medivac where a TCC blockpost arrested one of the other ambulance drivers leaving the actual medical assistant to drive the rest of the way to Dnipro... I have heard a driver for some of the UN wankers who strut around pretending to be important was also arrested in a similar fashion.
Apart from that, things continue. One step after the other, people survive, they keep going, breathe a sigh of relief when they get to go to sleep, then wake to do it all again. It's not living, it's surviving, and Ukrainians know how to do that all too well.
