I first arrived in Ukraine in the middle of a snowstorm, in the winter of 2005. My friend Anastasiya had invited me from my then home in Russia to spend the New Year's holiday with her family in Luganskaya oblast', and we stopped in Kyiv for two days to break up the long trip. We wandered around the freezing cold streets, arm in arm so as not to fall over, then took shelter in a café and chatted for hours while warming up with hot chocolate. As the snow settled in the beautiful courtyard outside, and my confidence when speaking in Russian grew with each empty cup, the hostility and injustices of life across the border seemed an age away. I soon learned that Ukraine is just as harsh as Russia, but the generosity of the ... read more