Ukraine

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I only had two days in Kiev so I was going to make the most of it. After my Chernobyl tour I explored the city, there are still tents and barricades around the main square. Despite all this I still felt very safe, although everywhere I went I made sure I had two exits in case something happened. I think Kiev is a very beautiful city and I’m very glad I went, I was almost going to avoid it because of the conflict.

On day two I went on a tour of a nuclear missile site. The museum was 3.5 hours away from the city. This was a site that was still in use up until 2001, after this it became know that the site had 12 nuclear missiles pointed at targets like the US and China!

Each silo had a lid weighing 120 tons, it was covered with wax to jam any radio waves. The hatch could open, launch the rocket and close within 15 seconds. It was able to survive a direct attack by a nuclear bomb. After the cold war the Russians asked did the Americans really have no way to stop it since they were so high tech. The Russians were expecting some state of the art weapon or technology. The Americans didn’t have this the Russians built the mechanism that opens the hatch on the outside so all they needed to do to stop a nuclear attack was to damage this mechanism and the rocket would be trapped under 120 tons of mental! If the rockets were launched there was no way to stop them the only thing they could do was change the co-ordinates. A rocket could go from Moscow to New York in 15-20 mins!

They said that they used to get maybe 125 visitors a day now they get 7 or 8 with the conflict. Everyone I met said tell your friends back in New Zealand about us, I think some of them are really struggling, they really looked after me and wanted to make sure I had a positive time. One of the drivers we had said his grandfather was some high up soviet official, I think his family was very well off. He didn’t say exactly what happened but after the collapse of the USSR he and his family lost everything almost over night.

After this I saw something advertised called “drive a tank” I assumed this meant drive a tank! When I found out what it was I was bitterly disappointed, it was being driven in an armoured personal carrier. However once we got going we drove at high speed through forests and up hills. I sat on top and one of the most thrilling rides I’ve ever had. Because of health and safety we would never be allowed to do that in New Zealand, it wasn’t unsafe or anything, so I enjoyed it immensely. Out of all the extreme sports I’ve done that has to be one of the most exciting and fun.

Overall I had an amazing time in Kiev, as far as tourist things I’ve done this has been my highlight so far.



The following day I left for London. When I heard about the crash of MH17 I just couldn’t believe it, Kiev felt very safe. Kiev is on one side of the Ukraine the jet went down on the other side. As we were flying out I was thinking there was an outside chance we could be shot down but after we got above 5000ft I was able to relax. I couldn’t believe a jet was shot down from 30,000 ft I just didn’t think rebels would be able to do that, that kind of weapon is something only governments have. My flight leaving Kiev was at 2:05 pm MH 17 was shot down at 2:20, 24 hrs later.

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Photos

Nuclear launch button
That's the button that could have launched 12 nuclear missiles.

Real Nuclear warhead
None of these photos are replicas, they are all real weapons with the warheads removed!

Comments

[sue bagshaw]

ukraine
sounds awesome - must have a chat when you get back - still haven't got my head round the politics of this situation - hope you still having fun - Phew you missed the thing that shot down the Malaysian plane

[around the world in 80 ways]

still having fun
Yes I was lucky to not be shot down.