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John Marone's dispatch from the front line reveals what life is really like in the war-torn capital four years on from Russia's invasion
John Marone reveals what life is like in Kyiv fours years after the Russian invasion (Image: Daily Express)
Most people in Ukraine have learnt to stoically bear the hardship of having their country attacked and destroyed by the armies of Moscow, but some still proudly wear their hostility to the invaders on their sleeves.
On an overcast afternoon last month, as throngs of people in the centre of Kyiv braved freezing temperatures and icy pavements to celebrate the new year in a traditional street stroll, a bold political statement broke through the clouds on the back of one woman's winter coat.
"Russia is a terrorist state," read the words on her colourful down coat, a fashion statement that echoed a law passed by the Ukrainian parliament back in 2022, when Russia launched its full-scale military assault.
"The goal of the political regime of the Russian Federation is the genocide of the Ukrainian people, physical destruction, mass murders of Ukrainians, and the commission of international crimes against the civilian population," the parliament declared at the time.
Now, four years on, with tens of thousands of Ukrainian civilians killed or wounded by Russian forces, this statement has proved to be prophetic – a prediction that some here are not shy about proclaiming.
Konstantin is the director of a Dnipro-based publishing and printing house called Kavun, which also produces prints for clothing on order, including anti-Russia slogans like "Russia is a terrorist state".
He said: "I support this message 100%. The Russians are beasts who unleashed a savage war against Ukraine as well as against Georgia and other countries."
Such overtly anti-Russia prints are not as popular as they used to be, he acknowledged, but he still gets orders for them, especially from buyers abroad in the US and Georgia.
"People here in Ukraine are tired of the war. Some are even afraid to say what they really think," he said.
A Ukrainian firefighter works to extinguish a fire at the site of a Russian attack in Odesa (Image: AFP/State Emergency Service of Ukraine)
More common in Ukraine are orders for clothing with pro-Ukrainian patriotic symbols or Ukrainian flags, he said.
Konstantin himself has got hate mail from pro-Russian sympathisers on account of his anti-Russian prints but remains undaunted. He said: "One guy wrote 'F*** off' under our advert on eBay, but I was not bothered."
A shop assistant in a clothing outlet in the centre of Kyiv that specialises in Ukrainian-made items agreed that anti-Russian logos are less popular than they used to be, but said they still enjoy a market.
Digging through a pile of T-shirts, she eventually pulls out one emblazoned with the words "Butcher Russia", which she proudly displayed to be photographed – but with her face hidden.
Others are more unabashed.
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An elderly woman selling clothing and accessories on a cold square in the centre sees the sale of anti-Russian textiles not going down but underfoot.
Her Putin welcome mat, she insists, is the most popular item in her inventory. She said: "It sells better than anything else."
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