Kyiv’s Quiet Defiance: From Spin Classes to the Front Lines
I spent the last few weeks helping Ukraine with humanitarian aid. Here's what I saw.
I was at a morning spin class in Kyiv at a studio that looked a lot like my favorite in Santa Monica. Adjusting my bike, I suddenly noticed that everyone in the class was standing by their bikes, looking down. Music had stopped. There was total silence.
I felt like an idiot as I realized it was 9 a.m. in Ukraine. And every day at 9, the country comes to a halt for a minute of silence in honor of the fallen in Russia’s genocidal war. When the minute was over, everyone got on their bikes, the music started again and the class kicked off.
It was a small moment that captured a truth of Ukraine’s fifth year of war that is difficult to grasp without experiencing. Yes, Ukraine is fighting a violent and brutal existential battle for its existence. But paired with the unflinching bravery of combat is a determination to continue life in a free and pluralistic state. Living a normal life is a series of small triumphs over an evil leader and culture that seeks to enslave your body and kill your spirit.
I’ve made a couple of trips to Ukraine over the past few months. And when people ask me what Kyiv is like, the answer is easy. It’s like any major European city, just as it was the day before the full-scale Russian invasion four years ago. This is not Stalingrad.
The Russians routinely commit horrible atrocities, like attacking a children’s hospital in Kyiv, but the city did not break under the initial Russian blitzkrieg and it will not break under missile and drone attacks. (There’s a lesson in this for American war planners trying to bomb Iran into submission, but that’s another conversation.)