Hello from Kyiv,
Here’s what happened here and in the country this past week.
Cool news:
- Left bank news: “the tallest mural in Europe,” according to its authors, has been painted over a side of a building on the Revutskoho Street near the Kharkivska metro station on the left bank of Kyiv. The mural is called “Motherhood” and depicts a woman holding a baby. It is 78 meters tall and has an area of 1,155 metres in total. However, many Kyivans didn’t like the mural saying it looks “too Soviet.”
- Looks like the Kyiv mayor, Vitaliy Klychko – who is not known for his eloquence – found a way to turn his weakness into a strength. Or, at least, make light of it. Klychko released an illustrated book with his “best” quotes (i.e., his funniest and most-discussed gaffes). According to Klychko, all proceeds from selling the book will be donated to charitable causes.
- Ukrainian students created a project to show the impact of Holodomor, the Stalin-imposed artificial famine that killed millions of Ukrainians in 1932-1933. The project – entitled “Uncounted since 1932” – is an online restaurant with dishes that were prevalent at the time of the famine, such as bread made from grass and “soup” made from empty corn cobs.
- A Ukrainian woman, Anastasia Volkova, who founded Flurosat – a crop management and agronomy software – has been recognised as one of the 100 most influential and inspiring women, according to the BBC.
- Ukraine has received 100,000 tulips from the Netherlands as a gift. They have been planted on the Independence Square and by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The gift symbolises the Netherlands’ admiration for the braveness of the people who died during the Euromaidan Revolution in 2013-2014, which subsequently ousted Ukraine’s corrupt president Yanukovych. The flowers are expected to bloom in April 2021.
Uncool news:
- Which continent is Ukraine located on? According to a woman who took part in the Argentinian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, Ukraine is in Africa. Wrongly answering this question made her lose $20,000.
- Russia has sentenced Ukrainian Oleksandr Marchenko to 10 years in prison. Marchenko – who pre-war lived in Donetsk – had his car left there due to having to flee the area after the war with Russia started. In 2018 he was assured that he could get his car back, so he travelled to the occupied area via Russia. After getting his car back, he tried to return to Ukraine – again, via Russia – but went missing. Now, Russia accuses him of being a spy and carrying military equipment.
- Ukraine got a technical loss in its football game against Switzerland. The UEFA reckoned that it was Ukraine’s fault that the game didn’t take place. Earlier, seven Ukrainian football players allegedly tested positive for the coronavirus in Switzerland, which made holding the game impossible. Upon their subsequent return to Ukraine, however, all the footballers tested negative.
- Two COVID-19 patients died in the Lviv region after a power cut in the hospital they were treated in. They were hooked up to ventilators, which stopped working. Criminal proceedings have been opened against hospital workers as the establishment had emergency generators that were not in use.
- Ukraine’s ministry of education and science does not see anything wrong with the advice that was given in a Ukrainian school book – namely, the advice to treat cancer with baking soda. The book will not be revoked from the syllabus, the ministry said.