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As regular readers know, I love my Hotel Bursa in Kyiv for many reasons. One of its best features is the panoramic view from the 5th floor rooftop lounge 1818. Legions of young, hip Ukrainians regularly ascend for a yummy cocktail and update their Instagram while enjoying a view to die for. This combined with the large terrace also makes 1818 a popular destination for weddings, and last weekend there was a classic. 

In the early hours of Saturday morning, several party-rental trucks arrived to unload DJ equipment, speakers, tables, chairs, decorations and umbrellas to protect guests from the blazing summer sun. Considering the number of people swarming around all day, this was easily going to be the largest wedding ever hosted at the hotel.  

By 3pm both rooftop decks had been transformed into scenes reminiscent of Barbie meets Arabian Nights. The music started pumping and the drinks started flowing and the tranquillity of a sweltering Saturday afternoon was annihilated by the raucous celebration of a typical Ukrainian wedding. 

The Late Bride gets the Groom

Beer, wine & prosecco turned into Whiskey Sours as night fell to a curfew-induced 10pm close. At 10:30 the groom, already several sheets to the wind, invited everyone left at the bar, including me and all the staff, to continue the revelry on the sizable deck of their hotel room. 

As typically happens at Bursa weddings, the bride and groom booked the Attic suite featuring a huge deck, banya (sauna), fireplace and L-shaped couch. Considering it was the happy couple’s wedding night, I opted not to join them and instead, retired to the main floor courtyard just under the balcony of their honeymoon suite. 

Just then my good friends, The Georgians appeared after a 48-hour trip back into Kyiv, and joined me and a few other night owls. We all enjoyed some ‘emergency rations’ and the music and laughter from the deck above as it continued into to wee hours. 

Fight for Your Right! To Party! 

As the mandatory midnight curfew approached, the bride became more & more anxious and demanded the party end and all guests depart. Unsurprisingly, fireworks ensued when she didn’t receive the answer she wanted from her new husband. So, she locked him and his friends out of the deck, confirming that my decision not to join them was the right one! 

Understandably, people in Kyiv are conflicted about celebrating when their friends & family are dying at the front, but weddings are an exception. Life continues even during wartime, and the fact that folks can still celebrate something special is a testament to the Ukrainian spirit – as long as that spirit is consumed responsibly. 

Fortunately, the bride and groom were smiling and still together on Sunday morning. I learned that the stress of war allows for certain exceptions to wedding night obligations.  

Wartime weddings are yet another reason why the Ukrainians are fighting for their right to party anywhere, anytime in a free and independent Ukraine. 

Slava Ukraini!  Heroiam Slava! 

One of realities of living in Kyiv is the daily risk of air raids. The country’s early warning air defence system is very good, although occasionally you get a pretty exciting show in the middle of the night. Last week however, I was awoken for a different reason.

In the wee hours of Monday morning, I was jolted awake by a knock on my hotel room door by a staff member announcing an anonymous bomb threat!

Explosive explanation

I got the full story as I made my way downstairs to a lobby full of sleepy guests. Someone who didn’t identify themselves called and claimed there was a bomb hidden somewhere on the property. So the hotel security guard inspected all the common areas while guests waited patiently in the lobby.

One of my newer friends at Hotel Bursa, Jeffery, a former UK Foreign Office diplomat who spent 14 years in Lebanon and is very familiar with bomb threats, provided some sober advice. “Perhaps the best place for all the guests while the hotel is being searched is not the lobby?”

Tick, tick, tick

This made a lot of sense to everyone, so we all moved to the open-air courtyard while security completed their search and pronounced the hotel safe. Jeffrey reacted to this revelation with typical British aplomb and whispered, “What does he mean he didn’t find anything? What’s he looking for – a shoebox with two red wires attached to an alarm clock?”

Jeffrey suggested the staff should report the threat to the police. “Good idea!” replied Katerina, working her very first 24-hour shift. One quick phone call and within fifteen minutes a Ukrainian National Guard team arrived with a trained bomb-sniffing dog. They inspected the entire hotel, including guest rooms, and thankfully pronounced it clear.

Do Not Disturb

In conversations with the national guard and police, we learned that Bursa was not the only hotel that experienced a bomb threat that night, apparently five others received the same. As Jeffrey and I walked back to our rooms we discussed how random bomb threats could be a very effective way for Russian agents to drive foreigners, aid workers, humanitarians and journalists out of Kyiv because they can’t get a decent night’s sleep. 

It’s hard enough to sleep in a city with routine air raid sirens, active air defence fire, and civilian cellphone warnings going off almost every night. Nobody needs the additional stress of explosives to disturb their already disturbed sleep. 

Go ahead, Russia, call in your fake bomb threats. But I can tell you, it didn’t really faze me or my fellow guests. We’re here for the long haul. We’re here to support freedom and the Ukrainian people. Cowardly bomb threats in a city under nearly constant aerial attack are the least of our worries.

Slava Ukraini! Heroaim Slava!

I was sitting around my hotel the other day and I met an American named Tom who was in Ukraine looking to develop modular housing for refugees. Tom is perhaps your stereotypical Texan with a booming voice, colourful vocabulary, and no-nonsense attitude towards life. As a fellow humanitarian in Ukraine looking to help, Tom and I had lots to talk about and we soon became fast friends.

Every morning, Tom and I would sit together, have breakfast and numerous coffees and watch life in Kyiv walk by. One day after tucking into a great Bursa hotel breakfast, Tom started to philosophise about Ukraine, Texas style.”That was the best god damn scrambled eggs and bacon I have ever had! and I’m in Kyiv!”

“This ain’t Russia! This is Europe!”

I wholeheartedly agree with Tom as I believe that the story that is often missed in the press coverage of the war in places like Canada and the U.S. is how similar life is in Kyiv to life in any other western city. Everyone dresses nice, the food is top-notch, people are driving Teslas around all over the place and food delivery, ride sharing and Internet banking are all commonplace. 

There is a war raging in the East and Kyiv is under almost daily air bombardment by Russia but this is still Europe in all its forms. It is easy to get detached from reality in war time Ukraine when all you see is death and destruction of remote villages in your Instagram feed but if you heard air raid sirens 3 times a day in your town, your children were dying when their schools were bombed, and your fancy Tesla was stolen from your garage by an enemy soldier, you might relate better to why the Ukrainians need to win this war. 

This is not just any war, it is a war on all of us who believe in life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

“Come to U-Krane or Shut Up!”

“If more of my friends in America came to U-Krane, they would be just like me and never want to leave!”  This is also true, in fact, I believe that if you, dear reader, came to Kyiv for 2 weeks and walked the beautiful tree lined streets past thousand year old gold domed churches and groups of children playing, you wouldn’t want to leave either.

“I ain’t gonna be popular among my friends when I get home!” exclaimed Tom; he does a lot of exclaiming, Texas style. “All my freinds are always asking me, Why the hell are you going to U-Krane?” and “Why are we spending all this money on the war there?” 

“I’m gonna tell these folks to shut up and stop talking about the war in U-Krane and whether we should be sending money until they come to U-Krane themselves!” “Then I’ll talk to them about supporting U-Krane!”

“God Damnit I want to get my guns!”

When we talked about the war, Tom almost jumped out of his seat and said “I’m so pissed off with the god damn U.S, government for not sending every god damn gun, bullet, tank and airplane we have to U-Krane!”  “These wonderful people are fighting a god damn war against a bunch of god damn murderers and we’re too chicken sh*it to give them everything they need to win!”

If Tom, your typical conservative, gun-toting Texan can come to Kyiv you can too, and if you do you, will understand why Ukraine is one of “us” and why we need to defend them just like we would defend a friendly neighbour, just like we defended Europe in 2 world wars. If more of us were like Tom, this war would be over and we could all go back to living our lives in peace, like we all deserve, especially  Ukrainians.

Slava Ukraini! Heroiam Slava!

It’s been great living in Kyiv for the past year, meeting new people and learning the ins & outs of the most easterly country in Europe. I have identified many quirky things about Ukraine like staff food, ride-share roulette, and constant bicycle couriers, but living arrangements are definitely unique. There’s a nightly 12:00 am curfew and the metro train stops running at 10:30pm. Obviously, this can wreak havoc on plans to get home, but like so many other realities of life during wartime, Ukrainians have adapted seemingly effortlessly.

Due to the unpredictable daily routine caused by air raids, living arrangements have become more fluid as well. Everyone I know has at least one room to call their own, plus a dozen other flats around the city where they can crash on a couch as the curfew approaches. Your house is yours, but your house is also your friend’s place as well.

Midnight Rambler

We are enjoying a beautiful, hot summer in Kyiv and the rooftop bar at hotel Bursa is packed nearly every night. Because of the curfew most establishments close at 10:00 pm, and once everything is cleaned up and ready for the next day, it’s time to relax with friends and catch up. 

Everyone knows each other and enjoys spending time blowing off the steam of wartime, but sometimes the revelry ends up changing your plans. Occasionally, you miss the last train and are forced to play ride-share roulette hoping to strike the Uber jackpot. Other times, you’re having so much fun you just want to keep the party going.

All of these scenarios cause you to wonder, where to sleep tonight? If you miss the metro, you can stay at a friend’s flat in Podil. If you’re unable to get a ride-share, stay with someone who lives closer to your neighbourhood so you can get home quickly in the morning to change before tomorrow’s shift. If you and your friends decide to keep the party going, it’s assumed that all be staying wherever the party continues. 

Mi Casa es tu Casa

Everyone carries a spare toothbrush, and many even keep one at their friend’s place. Everyone is welcome everywhere.

I’ve never been fortunate enough to call dozens of friend’s homes my own anytime I needed a place to stay. Perhaps that’s what war does to people – bringing them closer by forcing everyone to adapt to new realities. Or maybe, it’s something uniquely Ukrainian to think of everyone as family and everyone’s house as your home as well. 

Regardless of where you’re from, when you’re in Ukraine or just a Canadian lucky enough to have wonderful Ukrainian friends, you’ll always have a home – and that’s certainly worth fighting for.

Slava Ukraini! 

I’ve now been in Kyiv for a year and I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to write about the beauty, power, strength, and intelligence of Ukrainian women. I only hope I can do them the justice they deserve as I express my admiration for these incredible women.

Not your Average Man

Most of the men I’ve met in Ukraine are awesome dudes working hard as baristas, bartenders, drivers, servers and cooks and they’re all great. However, most of the women I’ve met are fashion designers, musicians, marketing executives, event planners, teachers, politicians and deputy ministers. Women seem to hold most of the top jobs in Ukraine. In fact, it’s rare to encounter a company with fewer than 50% female managers and directors. Why? I’m not sure, but perhaps it’s a result of the higher proportion of women aged 30-34 having completed post-secondary education in Ukraine (65%), than in the EU (46%), and well above Ukrainian men according to figures from 2021.

Dressed for Success

Ukrainian women are some of the most fashionable in the world, especially the young, progressive women that will determine Ukraine’s future. 

This weekend was Kyivness at Hotel Bursa. Kyivness is a fashion event where emerging Ukrainian designers like Roxy Levkovska showcase their latest creations. Roxy is a one-woman brand and everything she sells is original and handmade. She began her career at a major Ukrainian label called Better, but her career was cut short when she was forced to flee because of the war. 

After relocating to her grandmother’s home in the country, Roxy began repurposing her Baba’s tablecloths into corsets and her grandfather’s old shirts became a woman’s jacket. After a year of building her brand on Instagram, her business is finally taking off. Roxy is just one of many Ukrainian women who have turned adversity into opportunity. The confidence that she could build a unique fashion brand while war continues to ravage her country is an incredible example of how Ukrainian women cannot, and will not be defeated.

No Street lights? No Problem

As things were winding down at the end of another night at Hotel Bursa, the gang was planning their way home before curfew. It was 10:30 and the Metro was about to close, so they all had to rush for the last train. Barbara, a brilliant aspiring bio-medical engineer, lives at the end of one of the lines – a 40-minute train ride from Podil. Furthermore, after that leg she has a 15-minute walk through the dark streets of suburban Kyiv.

For Barbara, like all the Ukrainian women I’ve met, the idea of walking home alone in the dark after a long train ride is not an issue. It’s just what you do. I’m not saying that walking late at night is without risk, it’s just not a risk to the average Ukrainian woman. You need to get home, and that means walking in the dark, period.

Strong Women – Strong Nation

Even the Ukrainian military is heavily populated by women with more than 50,000 female soldiers serving and over 10,000 in active duty on the front lines. That’s 16% of their armed forces and it’s growing. In fact, October 2022 saw the first all-female prisoner of war exchange including 37 women who fought at the grisly Battle of Azovstal.

One thing I’ve learned after a year in Kyiv  is that one must never underestimate the power, strength and intelligence of Ukrainian women. Ukraine is considered the motherland of the Slavic people – and the world can thank Ukrainian women for that.

Slava Ukraini!  Slava Ukrainian Women!

After being summoned by the Government of Canada, Mike’s about to walk into several meetings with some of the highest-ranking officials and Ministers in Ottawa. Learn all the details including ‘what it’s really like’ within the hallowed halls of the House of Commons on Parliament Hill. Mike was rather surprised!

Please join us to learn who’s involved, what was discussed, and the next steps to move forward on this episode of The Decentralists.

The latest escalation of the war in Ukraine has been raging for 18 months. In response to the damage and destruction, the government has passed a new law in the Rada which has the potential to change the futures of the 7 million Ukrainians displaced by the conflict. While questions have arisen around the wording of the legislation, this article argues that there is no doubt that if passed in the right form and implemented successfully, timely, accessible, compensation for those who have lost their homes and lands to Russian aggression will change the nature of future housing land and property compensation schemes, as well as the post-war landscape in Ukraine. 

The Good

Addressing the issue of housing land and property (HLP) compensation for displaced populations so early in the conflict is a bold and difficult move, and it is one which should be welcomed and supported by the international community. The law will bring Ukraine into line with international standards on HLP restitution, which seeks to bolster durable solutions to displacement by allowing populations to return and reclaim their HLP assets left behind or stay where they are and be compensated if their homes are destroyed. The faster a law and claims mechanism is operational, the easier it will be for the displaced to gather enough evidence to show where they once lived and what they owned. The longer the war and the greater the destruction of civilian infrastructure, the more difficult this becomes. In this respect, the draft legislation seems to allow for a variety of evidence, including potentially digital footprints, to be used to prove former ownership and use, beyond just land titles. This is going to be crucial for populations which may struggle to prove legal titles to property because of displacement. 

The Bad

The Ukrainian legislation is a great first step, but it needs a broader scope. If implemented in its current form, the law will not include the compensation rights of a wide range of HLP owners and users. Renters aren’t included, and neither are those who have lost agricultural land, a crucial demographic in a country which relies heavily on agricultural exports. Small businesses don’t seem to be included either, however these groups will be key to getting the economy back on its feet. Finally, the law appears to suggest that claims will be individually assessed, rather than following the mass claims model. With the potential number of claimants, this approach is simply not feasible, even with the best will and resources in the world.  

The Ugly

Being a statutory body, the compensation commission will be funded from state coffers, but with the cost of rebuilding Ukraine in the trillions, such an effort is going to put a massive strain on a Ukrainian economy already stretched by the war. Russia will neither withdraw, apologise or pay reparations willingly, which only leaves an international community reeling from economic hardship and the covid hangover to fill the void. If the compensation mechanism stalls on the issue of funding, it will further demoralise a population struggling to maintain hope and further delay a return to homes, lands and property. 

Reason for Optimism

Despite the challenges, there are reasons to be optimistic about the compensation law. Most countries never see compensation mechanisms for many years after the cessation of hostilities, if at all. Some, like Iraq, are so mired in corruption and mismanagement that only the elites and families of politicians benefit from compensation.

Ukraine has started on the right foot by planning early and acting quickly on the issue of HLP restitution. If the process can be correctly funded, claims processed en mass, made accessible to all the necessary demographics, and kept free from corruption, it may represent the most positive development to come out of the conflict to date and provide a model to be followed in future conflicts settings. 

After more than nine months, Mike is back in Canada. Why? Well, he was summoned by the Government of Canada. An influential Member of Parliament and a well-respected Senator have heard about the unique plan to rebuild Ukraine that The Peace Coalition has developed, and they want to talk.

Please join us to learn who’s involved, what was discussed, and the next steps to move forward on this episode of The Decentralists.

The war in Ukraine is not just a physical war of tanks, trenches, artillery and attrition. It’s also being fought across the Internet on the social media front line and deep within the darkweb where armies of hackers from both sides fight a brutal cyberwar. Sometimes these electronic battles erupt into the daylight with both horrendous and hilarious results.

Are there legitimate reasons to train national cyber-soldiers – a professional army of hacktivists? 

Find out what we’ve discovered in Ukraine on this episode of The Decentralists.

I like people. I really do, and I’m always looking to meet new folks and make new friends. Perhaps this is why I’ve been having the time of my life at Hotel Bursa in Kviv over the last nine months. As my Ukrainian ‘family’ would say, I’ve truly been living my best life, and that’s involved a lot of hugging.

Admittedly, I’m naturally a huggy person – I like to greet and say goodbye with a hug. To me a hug is a simple gesture of shared humanity. Like a handshake but perhaps more authentic. I realize not everyone likes hugs because they can be considered an invasion of one’s personal space, but I’ve found that over time most people warm up to the gesture if it’s sincere.

A typical morning

I believe my genuine fondness for people combined with a hug has opened an incredible world for me in Kyiv. I’m referring to the staff at Hotel Bursa plus their friends & family who I’ve come to know through random chance, party crashing or genuine invitation during wartime. 

Every morning I grab my laptop and head to the lobby for my essential double-cappuccino. There I always find either Tonia or Sasha who I call ‘Sunshine’ because of her wonderful countenance and megawatt smile. As I proclaim “dobre ranock”, whoever’s behind the desk comes out for a good morning hug.

Next, I’m usually intercepted by one of the hotel security guys who leaves his post for a morning hug. I’ll make my way across the lobby and hug a few of the cleaning staff and the hotel engineer along the way. I then do my rounds of the gang in the restauarant, including the kitchen team and dishwasher, before sitting at my patio table for another morning on the computer.

New friends & interesting people

My quest to meet people has also contributed to a fascinating litany of astonishingly interesting folks I’ve met just by making eye contact and starting a chat over a coffee or meal at the hotel. I’ve met journalists, actors, humanitarians, soldiers, students, ambassadors, rock stars, models, celebrity chefs and atomic energy inspectors in the Bursa lobby or restaurant, and I’m now on a hug basis with all of them. 

It’s been an incredibly humbling experience to meet so many amazing people and share a bit of our lives together. It’s also great because I now have friends all over the world who can advise me on local hotels and restaurants wherever I go – and I always have a dinner partner.

The world can be a wonderful place even during times of war and upheaval. A hug may be just a simple gesture, but it’s also a powerful motivator to surround yourself with good friends and ‘family’ wherever you travel.

Slava Ukraini!  Heroiam Slava!