Good morning to readers, hello from Ukraine.
Kyiv remains in Ukrainian hands, but today on Christmas Eve, the air sirens sounded in the city.
No explosions in the capital reported, but it's a spooky scene.
Latest news is there was a big explosion in market in Kherson.
Zelenskyy's office released these images of the killings in a market in Kherson on Christmas Eve.
Latest figures estimate 8 dead, 16 more in serious condition.
Warning: the images are graphic.
https://twitter.com/zelenskyyua/status/1606594375282204673?s=46&t=MUCp4hjr8a0s2SNxNz-DlA
“This is not sensitive content – it's the real life of 🇺🇦. Kherson. On the eve of Christmas, in the central part of the city. It's terror, it's killing for the sake of intimidation and pleasure. The world must see what absolute evil we are fighting against. #russiaisateroriststate”
Traveled to Odesa this week, and people seemed to have settled into a resignation that this will be a long war.
Unlike in the early days of the war, soldiers rushed us through checkpoints as we traveled. I didn’t have to show my ID even once from Kyiv to Odesa.
We were blessed with sunny weather in Odesa, which was a nice development after flurries in Kyiv.
And with the power out in most of the city, the light was a welcome relief as we traveled through the city.
The sound of business in Odesa, which is largely without power, is the generator.
The hum and buzz of the generator lets you know that a store or service or restaurant is running
Reporting near the Black Sea is pretty cold, especially outside.
Fingers get numb after interviews…
… but some, like this man with Polar Bear qualities, did not seem to mind the cold and in fact took a swim in the Sea
You get pretty used to living by candlelight. In fact, you might even prefer it.
As we had dinner someone brought out a battery powered lamp
The stinging, glaring light was such an intrusion we asked to turn it off so that we could continue our conversation by the candle light
It's Christmas Eve tonight in Ukraine. Or is it?
A hotly debated issue now during the war is whether to celebrate on Dec 25, as the West does, or Jan 7, as much of Russia does.
I broke down the fiercely contested issue on @MorningEdition.
Indicating that you prefer to celebrate Christmas on Dec 25 is indicating an interest in closer ties to the West.
The debate divides Ukrainians by region, generation and religious branch.
Hundreds of years ago, when the West was switching from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar, the Orthodox Church decided to stick with the old calendar when it came to the celebration of Christmas.
That led them to a Christmas date of January 7th.
Sebastian Dmytrukh, a Catholic monk:
"I asked them, probably four weeks ago, ‘when do you want to celebrate?’ The whole church answered they want to celebrate 25th of December"
Sebastian Dmytrukh, a Catholic monk:
"People want [December 25th as the date for Christmas] and they want it massively. Besides those people, even people from the villages and I was really surprised by it. They say “So what, today we still listening to Moscovian church?”
But people like 60 yo Greek Catholic Oleksandr Kyrychuk want to stay with Jan 7.
She associates it with tradition, and fond memories of Christmas dishes like Kutya, a grain dish with gravy, and Pampukhs, these sweet Ukrainian pastries
Tim Mak
neutron_chick