Kyiv’s daily life under Russia’s air war: from a hedgehog rescue to a missile attack
A correspondent describes the surreal everyday in Kyiv, starting with a small hedgehog rescue on the road and ending with a night missile attack that killed seven people and destroyed homes.
One warm evening in Kyiv, walking home from dinner, a correspondent saw a couple and their dog using phone flashlights to help a hedgehog cross the road. She jumped into the street to stop a car, and the dog barked encouragingly, scuttling the animal to safety. Such moments feel heightened in Kyiv, where real hedgehogs are common, as are metal “hedgehogs” – star-shaped tank obstacles.
Later that night, Russia launched a long-expected combined missile attack. The correspondent woke at 2:30am to air defense sounds, then Shahed drones and small-arms fire. In the morning, she and photographer Julia Kochetova surveyed damage in two areas: a modern district with shattered windows and a poorer Soviet-era block. Seven people were killed, 90 injured, and countless homes damaged.
Despite the terror, life goes on. The correspondent writes about artists turning war into poetry, plays, music—expressing the unsayable. Her book “Ukrainian Lessons: Art in a Time of War” comes out in August. On the streets, people quietly rescue, clean, repair—an endless adaptation to a cruel and relentless air campaign.
