Vantage Point North

    Ternopil 18th of May 2024 in Kharkiv, the mood in the city was schizophrenic. Some people did their best to grit on with their normal way of life. Young women eating in a fancy restaurant and elderly tending for their small gardens. Despite the occasional Russian bombing and Ukrainian ATACMS overflight. On the other hand many of the residents were heading west by any means necessary and the Ukrainian armed forces digging fortifications on the outskirts of the city. Many of the defenders coming from the north to rest, pickup supplies or build fortifications had the all too familiar 1000 yard stare or the compulsive humour to keep their mind intact. Kharkiv Comparing Kharkiv to Lviv in the west a few days earlier, Lviv was like a ray of sunshine. A casual observer could not have told that the country was in the middle of the bloodiest war in Europe since fall of Berlin. After travelling to the southern city of Ternopil, you still couldn't immediately tell that a war was goin...