Recording on assignment military volunteer Seva weighs the cost of fallen colleagues against Ukraine’s greater ambition to liberate the entire country.
In Kyiv, Oksana expresses her horror at billionaire Elon Musk’s controversial peace plan - which involved getting Twitter followers to vote on possible outcomes — and at a world failing to grasp the threat of an apocalyptic conflict.
Meanwhile, encouraged in part by the continued nuclear threat, Ilyas wonders about a spike in marriage nationally.
BACKGROUND -
*This week billionaire Elon Musk tweeted a poll on Twitter headlined ‘Ukraine-Russia Peace’ which asked his followers to vote yes or no to the following proposals
- Redo elections of annexed regions under UN supervision. Russia leaves if that is will of the people.
· Crimea formally part of Russia, as it has been since 1783.
· Water supply to Crimea assured.
· Ukraine remains neutral.
TIMECODES -
0.00 - Seva
3.10 - Oksana
7.00 - Ilyas
OUR DIARISTS
Seva, 40, 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.
Oksana, 35, works in overseas education. She lives with her husband, Seva, in an apartment complex in central Kyiv and has remained in the Ukrainian capital since the war started.
Many of Oksana’s closest friends have left the country to begin new lives in Europe. Some may never return. She’s determined to stay.
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 October 2022, Ilyas is back living in the family apartment in Kyiv and working, in part, for the Ukrainian government on various IT projects.
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.
EP27 diary entries were recorded using WhatsApp voice note.
From the producers of Sky News’ multi-award winning series – StoryCast.
Producer: Rob Mulhern
Editor: Paul Stanworth
Digital Promotion: David Chipakupaku
