Gents,
I have a friend who is a professor of military history and he is currently in Ukraine. He posted this to Facebook today, offering his experience of the missile attacks earlier. It reminds me of reading accounts of Englishmen reacting to The Blitz. I thought some of y'all might find the read interesting....
The Kyiv Missile Attacks October 10 Monday Morning
I did my Monday morning routine of getting milk, eggs, and coffee, thinking of making breakfast soon while with my headphones watching the news on my laptop. Then suddenly a loud explosion rocked nearby at around 9:30 a.m. as loud as I ever heard. I got up, put my sports coat on and walked into the hallway. I was just about to go out the main door to see what happened when people started running in to take refuge in the same hallway and the second, louder explosion hit.
The first guy to run in went to the hallway, and it’s a good choice, crouching down. I just looked at him thinking that is a good idea as there are more walls from the outside in the hallway. There is no basement, so that is the only option. The desk clerk came in next followed by some people from upstairs who I had just met the previous night.
The second story people who I had briefly met are young people who had to flee the Donbass, a young guy at 22, his girlfriend at about 18, and her younger brother 7. The girl was obviously shaken followed by her kid brother still in his pajamas. All of their English is limited, but I told her all is Ok, we are not dead. She responded with “F Putin” to which I laughed and repeated the same.
I figured coffee time was over and went back to my room to retrieve a shot glass of vodka offering it to the young lady to calm her down and distract her. She said no, but her boyfriend took it all in one shot. Her kid brother arrived calmer than most and confirmed to me in his little English it was two bombs.
I refilled my shot glass for myself and waited until it seemed to be over. It was over and went outside to see massive smoke rising just down the street. It was the Samsung Building right near Kyiv’s train station and bus stop. I waited for things to calm down to look around and ascertain the damage.
A couple hours later, I walked around the block and was surprised at the damage and shards of window glass just behind where I am. As I walked further the damage increased until I reached the corner of the Samsung Building. I found a stair stoop kitty corner to the damage and saw a van of bomb experts ride up and sifting through the shards finding bomb fragments. They had a lot of heavy construction equipment, but only one working the site I assume to still look for survivors in a purposeful way to not disturb the situation.
An ambulance left without sirens. That tells me it was most likely a corpse or corpses. A construction heavy lift arrived to check out the higher floors. I have no doubt there are many more bodies to be found. As they were working, more of the building’s facade collapsed. It seemed the bomb squad got what they needed, and I collected more of the missiles fragments.
As I wrote, this was 9:30 a.m. with the streets full of people. It is pure terrorism. Watching it on the news is one thing, but seeing it happen up close and personal is illuminating. God bless Ukraine.
I have a friend who is a professor of military history and he is currently in Ukraine. He posted this to Facebook today, offering his experience of the missile attacks earlier. It reminds me of reading accounts of Englishmen reacting to The Blitz. I thought some of y'all might find the read interesting....
The Kyiv Missile Attacks October 10 Monday Morning
I did my Monday morning routine of getting milk, eggs, and coffee, thinking of making breakfast soon while with my headphones watching the news on my laptop. Then suddenly a loud explosion rocked nearby at around 9:30 a.m. as loud as I ever heard. I got up, put my sports coat on and walked into the hallway. I was just about to go out the main door to see what happened when people started running in to take refuge in the same hallway and the second, louder explosion hit.
The first guy to run in went to the hallway, and it’s a good choice, crouching down. I just looked at him thinking that is a good idea as there are more walls from the outside in the hallway. There is no basement, so that is the only option. The desk clerk came in next followed by some people from upstairs who I had just met the previous night.
The second story people who I had briefly met are young people who had to flee the Donbass, a young guy at 22, his girlfriend at about 18, and her younger brother 7. The girl was obviously shaken followed by her kid brother still in his pajamas. All of their English is limited, but I told her all is Ok, we are not dead. She responded with “F Putin” to which I laughed and repeated the same.
I figured coffee time was over and went back to my room to retrieve a shot glass of vodka offering it to the young lady to calm her down and distract her. She said no, but her boyfriend took it all in one shot. Her kid brother arrived calmer than most and confirmed to me in his little English it was two bombs.
I refilled my shot glass for myself and waited until it seemed to be over. It was over and went outside to see massive smoke rising just down the street. It was the Samsung Building right near Kyiv’s train station and bus stop. I waited for things to calm down to look around and ascertain the damage.
A couple hours later, I walked around the block and was surprised at the damage and shards of window glass just behind where I am. As I walked further the damage increased until I reached the corner of the Samsung Building. I found a stair stoop kitty corner to the damage and saw a van of bomb experts ride up and sifting through the shards finding bomb fragments. They had a lot of heavy construction equipment, but only one working the site I assume to still look for survivors in a purposeful way to not disturb the situation.
An ambulance left without sirens. That tells me it was most likely a corpse or corpses. A construction heavy lift arrived to check out the higher floors. I have no doubt there are many more bodies to be found. As they were working, more of the building’s facade collapsed. It seemed the bomb squad got what they needed, and I collected more of the missiles fragments.
As I wrote, this was 9:30 a.m. with the streets full of people. It is pure terrorism. Watching it on the news is one thing, but seeing it happen up close and personal is illuminating. God bless Ukraine.
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