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This Is Why

Ukraine War Diaries: EP39 - Birthday at the pictures, pizza nights & polish pick-ups (Jan 2-6)

This Is Why

Sky News

News, Daily News, News Commentary

4.0552 Ratings

🗓️ 7 January 2023

⏱️ 14 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In Kyiv, making use of one of the cities bomb-proofed theatres, Oksana books a comedy night for military volunteer husband Seva.

In one of the capital’s restaurants, Seva begins the new year in the company of army comrades who extend an emotional gesture of brotherhood in the form of a knife.

And after saying farewell to his family, Ilyas transports an old car from Poland ear-marked for frontline soldiers, before finding himself in the blast radius of a missile strike in Kyiv.

OUR DIARISTS Oksana, 35, works in overseas education. She lives with her husband, Seva, in an apartment complex in central Kyiv. Many of Oksana’s closest friends have left the country to begin new lives in Europe. Some may never return. She’s continues to try and make a life there.

Seva, 41, is a company CEO and husband to Oksana. Before the war, he travelled across Europe for business. Now, he makes regular supply drops of medical aid and rations to Ukrainian troops on the front line in Eastern Ukraine. He’s originally from a small village near Dnipro.

Ilyas is an IT specialist and married father who fled from Kyiv to Lviv shortly after the war started. His wife Natalia, and two young sons are taking refuge in Poland. As of December 2022, Ilyas is back living in the family apartment in Kyiv.

Ukraine War Diaries uses first-person audio, recorded on the ground in Ukraine, to give an intimate day-to-day perspective of life in a war zone.

EP39 diary entries were recorded using WhatsApp voice note.

From the producers of Sky News’ multi-award winning series – StoryCast.

Producer: Rob Mulhern
Editing: Paul Stanworth
Digital Promotion: David Chipakupaku

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Add water to your will.

0:02.0

And know that from that single drop,

0:05.0

life will grow.

0:08.0

Communities will flourish.

0:10.0

A better world will be left.

0:13.0

By leaving a gift in your will to Water Aid,

0:16.0

you'll help bring essential clean water to people who need it,

0:20.0

to change their own lives for generations

0:22.4

to come. Add Water Aid to your will. Search WaterAid legacy to find out how. For unlimited all-day

0:31.4

travel in London, think TFL. With the daily cap fair frozen until March 27, travel as much as you like on tube, bus, Elizabeth Line, DLR and Overground, knowing you'll never pay any more than £8.90 in Zones 1 and 2.

0:48.3

Download TFL Go to plan your journey. To the Mayor of London and TFL, every journey matters.

0:55.3

Always use the same card of device when touching in and out for full terms and conditions such TFL fair capping.

1:01.8

When Russia invaded Ukraine, Sky News asked a group of Ukrainians to record diaries as war twisted

1:09.4

both their country and their lives violently out of shape.

1:13.6

There were seven bombs, seven missiles and seven hits that I heard.

1:19.6

I saw the smoke raising up.

1:21.6

Husband and father Ilias

1:24.6

All of the cities that my bus passed, they were all under attack.

1:29.1

Kiev resident Oxana.

1:31.4

We are waiting for the difficult winter.

1:34.2

Now we are facing it.

1:36.1

And her husband, military volunteer saver, have documented everything from drone strikes to war

...

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