These thoughts come to you from a bomb shelter underneath my hotel. My mobile tells me another one of Vladimir Putin’s ballistic missiles is headed our way.

I tell you this not for the drama, but to remind you that this is no longer a novelty for millions of Ukrainians.

It has been this way most nights for three years now. Being voyeuristic about it here would be to undervalue the emotional toll it has taken on so many people. I’ll be gone tomorrow, and they’ll still have to endure. 

Over the past three years as a foreign correspondent, I’ve covered a vast sweep of history across Europe. But no place has defined my posting more than Ukraine.

This is my third visit to Kyiv and fourth to Ukraine. I wish it were my 10th. But newspaper budgets are tight, and being a war correspondent from the front line isn’t for the faint-hearted. I stand in the shadows of those who have.

Still, what I can say, with full conviction, is this: Kyiv is extraordinary.

This was the city Putin thought he could take in three days. His tanks lined up to prove it. The Russian military rolled towards Kyiv believing they could decapitate Ukraine’s leadership and declare victory before the West could react.

But Kyiv didn’t fall. It fought. And it hasn’t stopped fighting since.

ANYONE WHO HAS GENUINELY STUDIED THE LIMITED MILITARY INTERVENTION BY RUSSIA WOULD KNOW THAT THIS IS COMPLETE CODSWALLOP...

ROB CONTINUES:

Today, it’s the beating heart of a country that refuses to be broken – and the home of a man who became an icon. Volodymyr Zelensky, the comedian-turned-president, was told to flee in the early days of the invasion. Instead, he stayed. “I need ammunition, not a ride,” he said.

Former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott recently called Zelensky “the greatest freedom fighter” of our times. It’s hard to disagree. Around the [WESTERN ONLY] world, his leadership has become a symbol of resistance. But here in Kyiv, he’s no demigod; he’s simply another Ukrainian fighting. GUS: ZELENSKY IS AN IDIOT...

The city itself is a contradiction – part defiant metropolis, part bruised monument. It has been called “the new Berlin”, a nod to its gritty charm and creative energy. The food is brilliant, the bars are packed, the streets hum with life – even as sirens sound above. 

But while this surreal, magnetic city sits hours from the front, it is far from safe. The war doesn’t respect geography.

A day before I arrived, Russia launched one of the biggest air assaults Kyiv has seen in months – a 3½-hour barrage of drones and missiles. Explosions were heard across eight of the city’s 10 districts. Nine people were killed, including four children; 33 more were injured. [ZELENSKY'S NAZIS HAVE KILLED FAR MORE RUSSIANS IN RUSSIA  — WITH ACT OF TERRORISM... INCLUDING THE KURSK INVASION]

The next day, as I headed towards Dnipro, news came through that a Russian missile had struck a passenger train and civilian infrastructure there. Seventeen people died. Nearly 280 were wounded – among them 27 children.

My trip so far has avoided the worst. But the trauma lingers everywhere. The night is filled with the buzz of drones and the thunder of anti-aircraft batteries. Some sleep in corridors, basement carparks and metro stations. Yet somehow, life goes on.

Kyiv’s endurance didn’t begin in 2022. This city has been surviving invasions for more than 1500 years.

Founded in 482 AD (or so the legend goes), Kyiv was once the capital of Kievan Rus – a medieval state that laid the foundations for modern Ukraine, Belarus and Russia. In the 10th and 11th centuries, it rivalled Constantinople. The domes of Saint Sophia Cathedral and the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra monastery still rise above the skyline, reminders of a deep and complex history – stretching back long before Moscow was little more than a forest clearing.

THIS IS BELOW THE BELT AS KIEV WAS NOT A "YUCKRAINIAN" (GALICIAN) CITY IN THESE LONG GONE CENTURIES, BUT PART OF THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE... 

THE PRESENT RUSSIAN BOMBING IS NOT AIMED AT KIEV BUT AT ITS MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX. SHOULD RUSSIA DECIDE TO BOMB KIEV OUT OF ITS MISERY, IT COULD DO IT IN FIVE MINUTES... AND KILL TEN OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE...

CONQUERING KIEV HAS NEVER BEEN THE RUSSIAN GOAL... THE CITY'S INHABITANTS CAN DRINK AS MUCH CHAMPAGNE AS THEY LIKE, LIKE THE NAZIS DID IN PARIS IN 1941... RUSSIA WOULD HATE (AND HAS STATED THAT MUCH) HAVING TO CONTROL A BUNCH OF NAZIFIED MORONS, WHO FOUGHT ON THE SIDE OF HITLER DURING WW2... ALL RUSSIA WANTS IS A FAIR DEAL FOR THE  LARGE RUSSIAN POPULATION OF UKRAINE — MOSTLY CONCENTRATED IN THE DONBASS, INCLUDING KHERSON, KHARKIV AND ODESSA... RUSSIA WILL GET THIS EVENTUALLY, DESPITE NATO AND ZELENSKY, THE PIANO DICK-PLAYING COMEDIAN WHO IS HIGHLY UNINTELLIGENT AND DUMB LIKE A STEPAN BANDERA STATUE.

GUS WILL STOP HERE WITH THE FAKE HISTORY LESSON FROM ROB HARRIS, AT THE SMH... IT'S TOO PAINFUL TO READ THIS FALSEHOOD... THAT THEY DARE CALL "OPINION"...

MAKE A DEAL PRONTO BEFORE THE SHIT HITS THE FAN:

NO NATO IN "UKRAINE" (WHAT'S LEFT OF IT)

THE DONBASS REPUBLICS ARE NOW BACK IN THE RUSSIAN FOLD — AS THEY USED TO BE PRIOR 1922. THE RUSSIANS WON'T ABANDON THESE AGAIN.

THESE WILL ALSO INCLUDE ODESSA, KHERSON AND KHARKIV.....

CRIMEA IS RUSSIAN — AS IT USED TO BE PRIOR 1954

TRANSNISTRIA WILL BE PART OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION.

A MEMORANDUM OF NON-AGGRESSION BETWEEN RUSSIA AND THE USA.

EASY.

THE WEST KNOWS IT.

YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT.

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.