Archive for October, 2025

Irpin, memorial at the destroyed Romaniv bridge, May 2025. Hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated under russian fire from russian-occupied areas of the Kyiv region via this “Road of Life” in March 2022.

30Oct

30.10.2025 / Home

In History, Larissa's War Diary, Ukraine by conteur / October 30, 2025 / Comments are closed

Irpin, memorial at the destroyed Romaniv bridge, May 2025. Hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated under russian fire from russian-occupied areas of the Kyiv region via this “Road of Life” in March 2022.

LARISSA BABIJ

OCT 30, 2025

I am writing from Poland, where I’ve spent the past week visiting friends. Yes, this was a planned trip to escape the cold, darkness, and russian airstrikes that have come to characterize autumn in Kyiv. Only these are not normal conditions for living.

15Oct

15.10.2025 / Escape artist

In History, Larissa's War Diary by conteur / October 15, 2025 / Comments are closed

LARISSA BABIJ

OCT 15, 2025

Scene One

October, a Kyiv metro train. All the seats are full. I am reading Valeriy Puzik’s Myslyvtsi za shchastiam (Hunting for happiness) — a collection of sketches from his military service in parts of Ukraine deoccupied from russian forces. To my left is a woman, middle-aged, neatly dyed hair, with a bag on her lap, looking at her phone. To my right — a man around 40, salt-and-pepper hair, buzz cut, good-looking. The smell of alcohol hangs in the air.