YouSaid · the spoken record

Illia Ponomarenko

lines on the record: 60
first: 2024-07-23
most recent: 2024-07-23
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

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“History of this, so our way was never supposed to be easy, and I'm afraid that we are very far from seeing the end of our challenges and problems and things that we have to, one for the sake of the survival of this country. But I think just as many other things we will overcome this too.”
2024-07-23 · Intelligence Squared · The Story of Wartime Kyiv, with Illia Ponomarenko · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“The spread of tempting narratives that say that maybe we should give up on Ukraine and forget about this headache, yet somehow we managed to step by step overcome all those things and make a lot of impossible things in the reality. I mean, if we could get back to two and a half years ago and tell ourselves what's going to happen in our day and time, I think we would not believe that. Absolutely. We would absolutely not believe that we are right now. That was the result of a lot of steps made, a lot of terrible obstacles overwhelmed. So I think we will win over this too. I really hope so because we have a”
2024-07-23 · Intelligence Squared · The Story of Wartime Kyiv, with Illia Ponomarenko · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“To make in Germany one of the The strongest backers on this, we have managed to overcome hesitation in terms of tanks, in terms of armored vehicles, in terms of air defense, missiles, jets, you name it. At every single step, that was a no-goes-on and absolutely no perspective for us. Yet we somehow managed to overcome this. This list could be. Could be listed forever from what we could talk about this all day. And I definitely consider all those things like lack of belief, you know, the spread of really demagoguery and populistic propaganda about Ukraine.”
2024-07-23 · Intelligence Squared · The Story of Wartime Kyiv, with Illia Ponomarenko · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Of course, it's a danger. It's one of many, many, many challenges and threats that we have been facing since day one in this war. I perceive all those things that you have mentioned as An item in a very thick book and a very long list of things that we have to overcome that we are yet to defeat and overcome on the way because sometimes I really recall the entire path of these two and a half years and I realized that we have Prevailed in so many instances and we Managed to overwhelm so many nevers in this war, starting from, I don't know, half of the world simply buried us alive and not giving any weapons at all. Starting from essentially Most of European nations absolutely refusing to give us anything but symbolic helmets or something like that. And we have managed to switch the entire situation by 180 hours, 80 degrees.”
2024-07-23 · Intelligence Squared · The Story of Wartime Kyiv, with Illia Ponomarenko · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Normal again in Kiev, well, comparatively speaking, despite barricades, despite checkpoints, despite Russian still standing on both sides, but life was still, we had traffic jams back then. And I remember the beautiful weather of sunny days, beautiful evenings in the springtime has come and with the defeat of Russians, with the defeat of evil, you know, the nasty weather and the dark switch to beautiful sunshine and warm weather and we started opening up windows to listen to the sound of artillery and to enjoy the bird scene and to enjoy the sound of kids playing in our backyards in Kiev. That was simply something really mystical happening in there. So maybe that's just in my head. I swear I checked with the board. So this was exactly what's happening. But the weather was responding that the course of the battle”
2024-07-23 · Intelligence Squared · The Story of Wartime Kyiv, with Illia Ponomarenko · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And send it then across the front lines in exchange for two Ukrainians. That was awful. That was awful awful scene. But at the same time, the sun was shining. And I find it a bit symbolical, strangely symbolical that was happening because the weather was, you know, the springtime was coming simultaneously with the Ukrainian successes. march twenty fourth, twenty fifth when The Russian withdrawal is just days away. And life was essentially”
2024-07-23 · Intelligence Squared · The Story of Wartime Kyiv, with Illia Ponomarenko · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“For a reason, I mentioned in my book when we were witnessing the change of dead Russians for living Ukrainians, that was the second half of March. And I mentioned it that beautiful sunny day when we were witnessing this and inside us the military reporters, we were already Quite sure about the perspective of this battle, and the sun was shining for us all, and it was the beautiful weather despite awful things happening. I mean, unearthing Russian dead bodies. Decompose Russian bodies and I'll put them in the truck.”
2024-07-23 · Intelligence Squared · The Story of Wartime Kyiv, with Illia Ponomarenko · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“They will not take Kiev. It's all gone. They are out of Simbro. So it's just a question of how this ends, but it's not going to be the fault of Kiev. I would say that that was around March 10th, even though the most important battles were not over, such as the Battle of Mashun, a small town, the only place where Russians managed to cross the European River and almost entered the city of Kiev, almost. But thanks to enormous sacrifice from the Ukrainian military, they will join back. Was absolutely the end of the battle. And I must say that in the first period, in the darkest days, were literally dark, the weather was nasty. It was cold and dark and drizzle, you know, drizzle in this ghost town. But when things started changing, the weather started changing too. And”
2024-07-23 · Intelligence Squared · The Story of Wartime Kyiv, with Illia Ponomarenko · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And I must say that there's some very interesting things. Maybe that's just in my head, but I actually checked the weather reports from that time. And I must say that the worst period of the Battle of Kiev was between, let's say, They want february thirty fourth and probably around march eighth, march tenth when the Russian drive really bogged down they stopped. It doesn't mean that the hostility stopped, but there was a moment when it became like 100%, obviously clear that Russians are not going to make it.”
2024-07-23 · Intelligence Squared · The Story of Wartime Kyiv, with Illia Ponomarenko · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And I was especially shocked to see those things with foreigners, with American journals, British journalists being committed to doing what they had to do in other countries in Ukraine that is not their homeland. But nonetheless, it's a commitment. It's a duty, it's a commitment. It's just a small, tiny episode of what was happening during the Battle of Kiev. Essentially an epitome of what was good about humans and doing what they had to do.”
2024-07-23 · Intelligence Squared · The Story of Wartime Kyiv, with Illia Ponomarenko · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Because all those things, you know, the sound of arterial explosions and the sound of fierce hostilities, you know. That puts you to the barrier, that puts you to the barrier, and you walk further, when you make another step forward towards the stillness zone that is like 400 meters away somewhere, you know, down the street Nonetheless, you have to do this, you do this until you can't simply can't. But nonetheless, there's something, some force that makes you make another step forward.”
2024-07-23 · Intelligence Squared · The Story of Wartime Kyiv, with Illia Ponomarenko · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And on my way coming here and there, and if you see someone marked press or media, something like that, you know that's your brother or your sister. And we didn't know each other's names, but we saw the press patches and we were waving each other. We were taking pictures of each other, hooking each other sometimes from Ukrainians, foreigners, photographers, pediographers, writers, just because it was the entire Battle of Kiev was the best things what is about human nature and all this commitment to the duty of working as a journalist. And I say that was against so many things. That could represent your sanity and your reasonable minds because one must understand that everybody has sort of a barrier when it comes to going towards the front line in war.”
2024-07-23 · Intelligence Squared · The Story of Wartime Kyiv, with Illia Ponomarenko · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“They were almost entering the city of Erpin from Butcha and the military was still trying to hold on to them. There was a terrible noise of hostilities that was frightening, you know. And at the same time, I was walking towards the hostility zone through the city. I know that city very well. And I see journalists.”
2024-07-23 · Intelligence Squared · The Story of Wartime Kyiv, with Illia Ponomarenko · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Also, exposing a lot of things and also joining the voices of so many journalists that were present in Kiev. One should understand that we were far from being alone even when it comes to Ukrainian journalists. Essentially, the entire elite of world media was with us in there. Sometimes going towards battles of opinion of their places, I remember a moment, it was one of the beautiful things about what was happening. I mean, the Battle of Kyiv, the best things about human nature, such as I remember moments when Russians were breaking into Ilpin, I was March 5th, March 4th, something around that day. And I was terrible chaos in the city. Evacuating towards Kiev, towards the broken bridge leading to Kiev. Territorial defense fighters and military come to opposite direction towards the Russian front.”
2024-07-23 · Intelligence Squared · The Story of Wartime Kyiv, with Illia Ponomarenko · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“That was more than just a job, that was a duty. Nobody seriously prevented me, for instance, and many other journalistic guys, for instance, from staying somewhere outside Kiev in Western Ukraine, for instance, in complete safety and work. And they did, and their work was also appreciated. They did a lot of things. But at the same time, as someone who was in love with the Ukrainian military, who was really thankful and appreciated their sacrifice, it was absolutely... Non optional for me to stay away from all those things and to stay away from my beloved. In that hour in such a circumstances. I really decided to make my contribution in terms of things that I can do best. Which is reporting, go in places, join in the military. Writing stories from inside Kiev and also.”
2024-07-23 · Intelligence Squared · The Story of Wartime Kyiv, with Illia Ponomarenko · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“You know, when you work as a journalist in Ukraine, you do not simply work a job. You serve a duty. It's just this war. We grew up with this war. I mean, I'm 32 years old and this war with Russia continues for nearly a decades, which means that I spent one-third of my life amid this war. And I'm just one of many generations. For many of us, it's just a lifetime project of saving this country, of saving the future for ourselves in our home without everything that Russia represents right now.”
2024-07-23 · Intelligence Squared · The Story of Wartime Kyiv, with Illia Ponomarenko · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And one reasons why my book was initially called Guerrilla Radio because it was called that way because I expected back then during the Battle of Kiev, I expected Russians to enter the city in a hard battle and very slowly squeeze us to the city center. And I expected us journalists to report from inside the besieged city as Russians were closing in as a guerrilla, essentially guerrilla force. That's why the book was called initially was called guerrilla radio. But things ended up being going in a different way.”
2024-07-23 · Intelligence Squared · The Story of Wartime Kyiv, with Illia Ponomarenko · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And of course we were active in terms of going places, joining the military, doing journalistic work from inside the city. And of course we had plans of what happens, for instance, if Russians go over European and enter our district. In this case, we are... leave them to another apartment deeper in the city or we take our bicycles and we hit pathways in the world. Keep it surrounded with boots and especially when it comes to our district. It's a beautiful boots. But we had bicycles and we know this pathways so we can just escape Russians on bicycles. For instance, that was our old plan. We had like food, we had everything to survive the warrants in the city. But in general, what I expected to happen.”
2024-07-23 · Intelligence Squared · The Story of Wartime Kyiv, with Illia Ponomarenko · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, moreover, we got back to the city. Hostilities were raging in outskirts of Kiev. And until the final days of the battle, we had plans of what we do. If Russians entered the city, if Russians enter our district, where we move next, what we'd have to do, we lived in northwestern part of Kiev, which is adjacent to European Tobucha, that place. Essentially, the last buildings before you hit the road to European, which is like five kilometers away from the Gib borderline. And in the night, we could hear everything happening in there, and we could hear battles. We could hear artillery, air defense, the rage of the battle during curfew in nighttime.”
2024-07-23 · Intelligence Squared · The Story of Wartime Kyiv, with Illia Ponomarenko · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“That's why I needed the car. I didn't have car back then, but my flatmate did. So that was what I expected. And I say that coming back to Kiev and participating in the historical events of that kind and doing what I had to do as a journalist was the most correct decision in my life. Every single day, I thank God, I make this decision. I listen to my consciousness and I did it. Every single day I remember that. Just one of the things, one of the reasons for me to write this book and one of my messages in my book was that I really wanted to show people that this very simple moral principle of believing in what is right and doing what one should, despite everything, despite all the odds, it really works out. It's the only place to go. It's the only way to go. So it really works. And look where it brought us”
2024-07-23 · Intelligence Squared · The Story of Wartime Kyiv, with Illia Ponomarenko · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“We're seeing with this country, but we'll get back. We'll get in back. And I must say that it was nothing like super brave about this, nothing like that, because that was essentially the only decision that could be made in there, because I'll be hating myself if I didn't get back. And I must say that when we got back, I expected us to participate in the battle in some form, either as journalists or if you have to, as you know who. I expected us to witness the fall of Kiev to make our contribution and maybe if we are lucky we will be able, I expect us to be able to flee and to move on.”
2024-07-23 · Intelligence Squared · The Story of Wartime Kyiv, with Illia Ponomarenko · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Until the rest of my life, if I don't get back. Moreover, we had a lot of friends back in Kiev, in the city who were joining the military, joining territorial units or still working as journalists, so everybody is out there. We can't stay here. And on the other hand, I have this cozy house and my girlfriend parents, delicious dinner, soft, bad and welcoming people, but inside you are screaming, you are shouting there, so I have to get back. And my friend also come down. We decided that we're not Ligan, we're not, you know, the city we're sons of the city. The city gave us everything. We're stealing with the city.”
2024-07-23 · Intelligence Squared · The Story of Wartime Kyiv, with Illia Ponomarenko · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“But when we came there, so when the sort of initial shock just gone down, when we started getting back to our census, everyone of us, when we started seeing reporting news of terrible battles all across the country, of heroic resistance that the military was offering to, of incredible things that the military was doing in terms of sacrificing themselves for the sake of saving this country. Historic things happen in front of our eyes. Of course, to me, that was”
2024-07-23 · Intelligence Squared · The Story of Wartime Kyiv, with Illia Ponomarenko · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“by our sides, which is not very good idea for, you know, a guerrilla war in a melon strong city. So I decided that we need to go. We need to go to places where people expected us, my girlfriend's place, really far away in Western Ukraine, safe place, just welcoming you. Just expecting you. So temptation was high, of course. Was swearing. We can leave it behind, get stay alive, you can escape war, and go to a place that is embracing and welcoming and that is about peace and where war will probably never come to. So we did it. We did it. We decided to go and we were lucky to live in a place that was good in terms of living Kiev despite terrible jams.”
2024-07-23 · Intelligence Squared · The Story of Wartime Kyiv, with Illia Ponomarenko · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Which means that things are really bad, really, really bad. It's been several hours since the beginning of the invasion and they are standing on our gates here in Kiev. So we had to make a decision. I had to make a decision. So my flatmate, Ivan, here it comes. A guy, my university friend with whom I shared our apartment, our shitty apartment in Kiev for many years. Essentially, we came to Kiev together to get a new life. And he wanted to leave. He was terribly frightened at what was happening in there. I'm not saying I wasn't because you don't see Russian forces just several kilometers away, taking over the strategic airfield. for the defense of the city. And we had like a 50-year-old woman.”
2024-07-23 · Intelligence Squared · The Story of Wartime Kyiv, with Illia Ponomarenko · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“A threat for them. So you put them in danger. So I thought it would be a good idea to take my mom out there and to Tehosuas with one by my side. But Russians ended up attacking Kiev too and when that was happening, I remember a moment, for instance, the first afternoon when we started seeing reports saying that Russians have captured Ostonia Airfield, which means that they will be very shortly welcoming new and new aircraft coming from Russia with new airborne forces.”
2024-07-23 · Intelligence Squared · The Story of Wartime Kyiv, with Illia Ponomarenko · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“For and we believed for, it will be a terrible shame for me to stay away, for instance. Things ended up being a bit more complicated because in the final hours before the invasion I made my mother to leave eastern Ukraine, Donbas, and to take essentially last night train to Kiev because we kind of sort of knew and wait more where we expected the worst still to happen in Ukraine's eastern Basque nor in Kiev. We decided one of the, by the way, speaking of the idiocy of the Russian planet, the expectations, they clearly did not have enough power to take Kiev. So we expected that they used a very limited military forces to distract Ukrainian military from the east because you create a danger for Kiev, for Haki, for many other places without actual attacking, but still...”
2024-07-23 · Intelligence Squared · The Story of Wartime Kyiv, with Illia Ponomarenko · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“A good friend of mine. I was living Kird four years. I came to Kiev and started my life from nothing. And by the time when the Fusky invasion came, I had a sort of a career in English, language, Ukrainian media, in the military defense community. And when this crisis came to its peak, just as so many people in this country had to make a decision about what we can do with this because you have to make a moral choice and you have to make a decision. I decided that I will stay with my country. I will stay with my military because I would be terribly ashamed after all those years with the military, but defense and security community of Ukraine, after everything that we have worked.”
2024-07-23 · Intelligence Squared · The Story of Wartime Kyiv, with Illia Ponomarenko · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“When it happened, it appeared that Russians do not have like a sort of a plan B. What if Ukraine does not collapse just like that? What if Ukraine appears to be offering a fierce resistance, especially when it comes to superior Ukrainian artillery power? Artillery was absolutely fierce from the Ukrainian side. What if Ukrainians do not simply give up? What if Ukrainians appear to be suddenly In the situation when the first easy jump with a big emphasis on the speed fails, Russians ended up having no plan B what happens if they first jump and they quick fails. This is essentially what happens.”
2024-07-23 · Intelligence Squared · The Story of Wartime Kyiv, with Illia Ponomarenko · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“They managed to save most of its air defense and most of its Air Force. Same goes about air country, mechanized units. So one of the most important pictures was that Ukrainian military managed to survive as an organized force, centralized and controllable military force. And moreover, civilian authorities also managed to stay in their places in many ways because of defiance of Zdevsky. We must admit that. And one of the first failures of Russia was that Ukraine managed to His feet on the ground in terms of being organized We organized military and political power. So these were really one of the biggest victories in this war.”
2024-07-23 · Intelligence Squared · The Story of Wartime Kyiv, with Illia Ponomarenko · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Poor in terms of logistics, poor in terms of support, and they ended up being a very easy prey for Ukrainian ambitions in the boats of northern Ukraine along not many roads that lead to gift from Belarus, from Chernobyl zone. Ukrainian military appear to be extremely skillful, far superior in terms of urban warfare. One of the reasons why Russians feel at Kiev is that they bog down in the outskirts of Kiev, northwest and northeast, it's probably bogged down and never managed to essentially overcome this outskirts and overcome the small river of European river west of Kiev. Moreover, the China military managed to do this maneuver of dodging, essentially dodging in most ways. The most crucial first hours of missile jacks, of bombing campaigns.”
2024-07-23 · Intelligence Squared · The Story of Wartime Kyiv, with Illia Ponomarenko · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“But it was true that the Ukrainian military ended up being far more prepared for far better prepared than we expected it to be and more than Russians expected to be, it ended up being far more professional and skillful, far better armed than Russians expected it to be. That's for sure because Russians given their plan and given the insanity and delusional nature of their plan, they expect to know resistance at all, at all, at all. So they plan could work without Ukrainian military able to fight. The reality was absolutely different. Ukrainian military managed to find good tactics in terms of abusion. Russian convoys that were moving towards Kiev, for instance, barely armed, barely protected, very badly organized.”
2024-07-23 · Intelligence Squared · The Story of Wartime Kyiv, with Illia Ponomarenko · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“public resistance to make it another unwinnable war for Russia. So these were things that we were talking about and we were talking about sort of a strategy moments and tactics for facing a overwhelmingly superior military power with little to no organization in this regard. These were the things that I expected. really war that Russians cannot stand over the time.”
2024-07-23 · Intelligence Squared · The Story of Wartime Kyiv, with Illia Ponomarenko · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I must say that me and many people in the community, I mean journalists, analysts, we were talking mostly about asymmetrical warfare and guerrilla warfare. Yeah. Essentially, we expected the scenario under which Russians do invade, do have successes at the initial stage in which they disorganize the Ukrainian military and the Ukrainian nation. And Ukrainian military and public resistance, they switch to guerrilla warfare nationwide. And this war of nationals resistance drags on and on and on and Russians bog down in this. And essentially this becomes an unwinnable war in combination with the international sanctions, isolation, and many other things. And essentially, we expected Ukrainian military and”
2024-07-23 · Intelligence Squared · The Story of Wartime Kyiv, with Illia Ponomarenko · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Of hope and anger, of defiance against all odds. So like I said, the first 24 hours of the invasion were like a lifetime in itself because the entire nation switched from here in the bombs of incoming missiles to witnessing giant fires all across the country and first battles against Russians to see the first defeats of Russians and getting the hope and coming to census and doing what was necessary for this. Like I said, it was an entire lifetime within 25 hours.”
2024-07-23 · Intelligence Squared · The Story of Wartime Kyiv, with Illia Ponomarenko · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Absolute despair to after the initial shock was gone to hope. I remember moments closer to the end of the day one when there was news saying that Ukrainian forces managed to defeat the Russian assault on the Somalil airfield. And there was a picture of Ukrainian soldiers showing Ukrainian flag, like turn off Ukrainian flag at the Hostomal Air Field. Say notifying the victory of the first Russian jumping at Kyiv. And that was a moment when everything had changed. That was a really moment of change because those outbursts of energy in that picture telling so many people and to myself too that we can make it. Russians are not triumphant. Russians have had their first defeat. In that battle. And that was the moment when things started shifting from despair, from doom and gloom to hope to enthusiasm, to this outbreak of”
2024-07-23 · Intelligence Squared · The Story of Wartime Kyiv, with Illia Ponomarenko · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“This whole thing, this whole day was about making a decision because by the second half of the day the hostilities and the attacks rolled down to the outskirts of Kiev essentially within hours. You remember the infamous Battle of Hostonal Airfield, which is a hostile Antonov airfield just outside the city that Russians tried to capture very quickly and to gain foothold in there. And since we were living pretty close to that location, Was about the sounds of Air jets in the sky, tanks rolling down the streets, Ukrainian tanks and going to that location to meet Russians. It was about making decisions of what we do next. Was about a kaleidoscope of emotions from”
2024-07-23 · Intelligence Squared · The Story of Wartime Kyiv, with Illia Ponomarenko · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“give at the sunset. So at the same time, there was this chaos in the city with millions of people fleeing and creating terrible traffic jams. But at the same time, people who stay organized, there was little to know public disorder, little to no looting, even though there was not much police in the streets. So while most of the people were trying to flee, trying to leave, at the same time, lots of businesses still working on the day one, lots of people getting things organized in the streets of Kiev.”
2024-07-23 · Intelligence Squared · The Story of Wartime Kyiv, with Illia Ponomarenko · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And you get out in the street and you see essentially nothing unusual. But with the time, you can hear the rolling thunder of explosions, of missile impacts from all across the city, from all around you. The streets are silent. The city seems sleeping. At the same time, you could hear the familiar sound of booms. From all around. And to me, as a defense supporter, so I got deployed to the war zones. You could find that sounds really familiar. That's something familiar, but that's not happening in frontline of Donbass. That's Kiev.”
2024-07-23 · Intelligence Squared · The Story of Wartime Kyiv, with Illia Ponomarenko · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, this just can't be happening. These are not the kind of things that you accept easily, even if you have like... Rock solid evidence in front of you because a full-scale war two-style attack in the year 2022 doesn't feel like something that is thinkable in our day and time. When it comes to the day of all days, as I sometimes call it, the day of February 24th in many ways was like a lifetime in itself, the longest day, as they say, because it started with Putin's face going live on TV, like really twisted with anger. Being absolutely sure of his personal triumph, spitting this hatred, you know, you remember that footage from Russian TV. And then it's still in the night, you know, the first hours before the dawn.”
2024-07-23 · Intelligence Squared · The Story of Wartime Kyiv, with Illia Ponomarenko · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Not sure if it was like traumatizing because we were psychologically ready, mentally ready, because it's been days, it had been days since we kind of knew that's going to happen.”
2024-07-23 · Intelligence Squared · The Story of Wartime Kyiv, with Illia Ponomarenko · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Will not be as mad as to make another step. But what happened happened? Unfortunately. So yeah, we had those who denied had a lot of reasons, unfortunately. Because, like I said, I keep calling this one of the most absurd wars to ever happen in human history because it's so absurd. It's so unbelievable and so unthinkable. It's so dumb in so many details, especially when it comes to what happened next with all the insanity that's happening up to this day. So as we sometimes say it in Russian and Ukrainians, what a fool has made has done 1,000 wise men would not comprehend sometimes.”
2024-07-23 · Intelligence Squared · The Story of Wartime Kyiv, with Illia Ponomarenko · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Sending signals to many journalists, even though they were also not 100% sure about this, because there are always something that you can catch on and tell yourself that maybe that's the moment when they stop. Maybe that's not going to happen. And that's essentially, even if you embrace this possibility, even if you accept your fate, and even if you are kind of sort of prepared for this, if you have made your preparation until the final moment, you still think about maybe that's not going to happen. Maybe that's the end of the soul. Maybe they will recognize the so-called republics in Donbass and they officially introduce their military forces into there. And that's it. And they freeze. Maybe that's not going to happen.”
2024-07-23 · Intelligence Squared · The Story of Wartime Kyiv, with Illia Ponomarenko · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“With everything that was happening in the final weeks before the full scale invasion, with all of the bold moves that made less and less sense and were less and less reasonable and comprehensible and understandable from some sort of practical point of view, that we initially eventually had to accept this that they are going to do this no matter how dumb it is, no matter how insane that is, no matter how delusional that feels, they're going to do this. Hope always wants to find a way. I'm not going to deny this and even when there was a final days before the Finnski invasion and when things were clearly going to Finscate invasion when we had Information from sources and Essentially, the Ukrainian government, Ukrainian authorities, they were.”
2024-07-23 · Intelligence Squared · The Story of Wartime Kyiv, with Illia Ponomarenko · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“The more you know about their practices and their politics, the more reasons you had to doubt this because they simply cannot be that stupid. I mean, that doesn't sound like reasonable at all. But at the same time”
2024-07-23 · Intelligence Squared · The Story of Wartime Kyiv, with Illia Ponomarenko · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It never deserved to be back, to be a colony again, to be enslaved again, to be under this brutal totalitarian regime again that does not honor history, doesn't appreciate its history. Moreover, in many ways that appropriates a lot of historical status of Kiev and in the kingdom of Os. So it's just a city that did not deserve this evil.”
2024-07-23 · Intelligence Squared · The Story of Wartime Kyiv, with Illia Ponomarenko · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“PF was so important, so pivotal about so many things that you learn as a kid from history box. And a very important part of our self-consciousness in history. And after all, it's a cool city too. Among many European capitals, among our friends and allies, I also travel the world and I'm saying that PV has a lot of reasons to boast in front of its fellow cities in Europe in terms of many things. And by showing this, by demonstrating the beauty of this, by showing what was really at stake, what kind of ancient beauty and what kind of civilization was significant city was in danger of getting in the jaws of a totalitarian Russia, I really wanted to show People why it was so important to hold on to Kiev because Kiev is the Rome of Eastern Europe in many ways.”
2024-07-23 · Intelligence Squared · The Story of Wartime Kyiv, with Illia Ponomarenko · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“How much history happened in here and how much much of the importance and how much of the national myth is connected to the Kiev when it comes to Ukraine, especially when it comes to margin ration. Because Kiev in many ways could be compared to the significance of a place for American patriots to a place where Lincoln was buried. And the Battle of Gettysburg happens. And the Declaration of Independence was signed and to so many places and significant things that shape your nation and your self-perception as a nation. So to us,”
2024-07-23 · Intelligence Squared · The Story of Wartime Kyiv, with Illia Ponomarenko · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“feature it among many other nations you know we travel the world we compare our country what's happening in our country and the life in our country with many other countries and I do not really want to talk bad about other countries but we in Ukraine we have so many things that we can really boast in front of our nations it's about little joys of life in here so Ukraine of the, especially when it comes to the last decades following the Euromad and Revolution, it has become such a different country. It has made such a vast progress in so many walks of life from economy to everyday habits to democracy to so many things. In other words, Ukraine is such a cool country. But at the same time, I really wanted to tell people how important it is civilization in terms of civilizational significance to this part of the world.”
2024-07-23 · Intelligence Squared · The Story of Wartime Kyiv, with Illia Ponomarenko · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“You know, one of the reasons for me to write this book was that I really wanted to show people, especially the foreign audience, what was at stake when we talk about the Battle of Kiev and Russians trying to seize Kiev. What is Kiev? What is Kiev as a city? And I really wanted to show it that it was such an unjust war, such an insane war against a country and a city that never deserved anything like that. Because Ukraine, of course, it's a normal country. It's a country that is far from being ideal as so many countries out there. But at the same time, it's a country that has had a history of trying to be a better place, of struggling for the better life, Trying to have a better tomorrow. In the same time having so much So many positive things”
2024-07-23 · Intelligence Squared · The Story of Wartime Kyiv, with Illia Ponomarenko · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT