editor-in-chief of the Ukrainian antiques magazine Antykvar on life in Kyiv

The Front Lines

to the West, or moved to storage facilities. Kyiv is blessed with millennia-old architecture, buildings of world cultural heritage and blocks of Kyivan art nouveau style of the late 19th and early 20th century.

The n umber of d estroyed, r uined and d amaged monuments increases every day. And this is also part of the humanitarian catastrophe and crimes of this war.

Despite everything, Kyiv’s cultural life has started to resume. During one recent performance at Lesya Ukrainka National Academic Theatre when the air r aid sounded the entire audience simply filed quietly into the nearby Teatralnaya subway station. When the all-clear came, the audience returned.

Victoria Museum, a private museum of the history of costume and style, has also opened its doors again – the first museum back in operation. Despite the difficulties, we continue to work and are determined new issues of our publication will see the light. Their pages will speak to the world on Ukrainian history, Ukrainian culture and Ukrainian art.

The future

The perfect life of Hanna Sherman, the Kyiv editor of Antykvar, disappeared overnight when the bombing started

In the days leading up to the Russian invasion I had the perfect life. Living in the centre of Kyiv in an old building dating back to the 1900s., my 15-minute walk to work passed some of the city’s most sacred and symbolic monuments — the Golden Gate, St. Sophia of Kyiv, St. Michael’s Cathedral and St. Andrew’s Church, in streets lined with museums, cafes and galleries.

On the day before the war started, I remember riding home in a taxi, looking at Kyiv in all its glory – great, powerful, bright, majestic and radiating prosperity – to imagine all this could disappear was impossible.

Bombing starts

On the day of the attack I woke up at 5.30 when my eldest son called me: “Mum, it’s started. Kyiv is being bombed. ” And that’s when I heard the explosions.

My 92-year-old mother-in-law moved in with us and we set about finding a bombproof basement in a neighbouring courtyard. It turned out to be in a nearby restaurant where we lived in a corridor and bathroom. We reinforced the windows with duct tape and marked safe places between two load-bearing walls. We stored filtered water in all available bottles, saucepans, and jars. In the first few days it was difficult to get food. Every time my husband tried to get to the supermarket the air raid siren sounded, followed by explosions, forcing him to return to the safety of our corridor and bathroom.

Enemy shelling

Outside, to protect them from enemy shelling, Kyiv’s landmarks are covered with sandbags or protective scaffolding. Ordinary Kyiv citizens take turns to protect them. Nowadays all the museums in Kyiv have more or less secured their collections, some have been evacuated

Above Bombing has laid waste to the city’s suburbs

Right Symbol of resistence. A Vasylkivska majolica ceramic rooster can be seen on the top of the cabinet in the bombed area of Borodyanka, image @ zaporona_media For now the Russians have left but I realise they may return. Until the war is over and our final victory comes, until Ukraine, supported by the whole world, recognises Russia as an aggressor state, Kyiv remains hostage, threatened by bombing and sabotage. But Kyiv will stand its ground. Whether I am scared or not doesn’t matter.

These one-and-a-half months of war feel, on the one hand, like a single never-ending day; on the other, like several lives put together, depending on my emotional state and the situation on the front. The most tragic consequence of war is the humanitarian catastrophe forced upon the civilian population.

Just like Antique Collecting magazine in the UK, Antykvar is Ukraine’s only periodical about art, culture and collecting, find out more at www.antykvar.ua

‘We lived in a corridor and bathroom. We reinforced the windows with duct tape and marked safe places between two load-bearing walls. We stored filtered water in all available bottles, saucepans, and jars’