This interview took place whilst volunteering in a kitchen in Kyiv.
Part one: Chrystyna’s story
Vic: Back when like Pes Patron was popular was that more for kids or?
Chrystyna: Oh, no… Did you… Do you have an account on Twitter?
Vic: I’ve got a Twitter, yeah.
Chrystyna: So there was a, like, flash bulb, I don’t know, there was a trend on Twitter. I’m not sure I will find it now, but I will try and send it to you if you want.
Vic: Yeah, sure.
Chrystyna: People were… There was a song about Pes Patron.
Vic: Yeah. <laughs>
Chrystyna: A popular one. It’s quite silly but people were making like remakes singing all the popular songs, but with the lyrics of this Pes Patron. It was like huge in this day. So like Taylor Swift and Nirvana and folk Ukrainian songs and whatever you can think of, but with the lyrics of Pes Patron. And it was done by adults. So we embraced Pes Patron.
Vic: So it’s for everyone, not just kids?
Chrystyna: Yeah, fully embraced. We have a figurine of Pes Patron, somebody gave my niece a present.
[Interrupted]
Chrystyna: So Boris Johnson with his hair and his “Dobry den everybody” [Hello everybody].
Vic: Yeah, I’ve seen stickers of that and like…
Chrystyna: And we have a, like, it’s not a song but some music, like dancing music with this sample of him saying dobry den everybody, and one- there was a lot of silly, silly and, you know, very optimistic music at the beginning of the war. And one was about Boris Johnson who ate at tanks, like some candy, did you hear that?
Vic: What did he do?
Chrystyna: He, he was eating tanks like some candy.
Vic: Ohhh, okay.
Chrystyna: If you want the name of the- I will look it up and show it to you.
Vic: Okay, thank you.
Chrystyna: So he was really- and the uh, if you know where the Museum of Kyiv is in the centre, near Khreshchatyk?
Vic: I’ve not been to it, but-
Chrystyna: And there’s a…
Vic: Oh, the bus?
Chrystyna: No, no.
Vic: There’s the bus nearby.
Chrystyna: No, there’s a TsUM, the biggest store in Kyiv.
Vic: Right.
Chrystyna: The Opera House, and then between them there’s this Museum of Kyiv.
Vic: Okay.
Chrystyna: And there’s an art gallery. And for a long time, for two years for sure, there was a very nice portrait of Boris Johnson, done in a very nice fashion. You know, I loved it. Although I don’t understand how somebody would want this art in their house, but it looked nice in the, in this window.
Vic: So I should go and visit that tomorrow morning maybe?
Chrystyna: If it’s still there, but I was there last year I think, and there was a very scary project. So there was a lot of bags, traveling bags, you know, suitcases, and with the names of occupied cities and liberated cities like Mariupol, Bucha, Borodyanka, Hostomel. And you, like, take a, I think, like, you just push a button and the person is saying a story about the owner of this bag and what happened. I only lasted for half a story and I started crying. But it is a- well it’s really touching.
Vic: I guess it’s all in Ukrainian.
Chrystyna: Uh, I believe there was a translation so you listen to the Ukrainian text and can read the English translation.
Vic: Okay.
Chrystyna: It was done really nicely, but- well, nicely, it’s the wrong word. Because the story I heard was the story told by a father who was trying to evacuate his kids from, I think it was Bucha or Hostomel, and the kids were killed. And these were their bags. And I- well, I didn’t last long.
Vic: Yeah.
[Interruption by another volunteer grabbing some supplies]
Vic: So Boris Johnson was that popular at the start?
Chrystyna: At the start yes, very much. Because he came to Kyiv and he, you know, said that he is going to support us in all ways possible and he was- is an interesting person to watch.
Vic: <laughs> Yeah. Yeah, I mean, he’s known for that in UK, it’s big theatrics and public shows of stuff.
Chrystyna: So, Ukrainians even wrote songs about it. And his Twitter handle was like JohnsonUK, yes? So Prime Minister Johnson UK, but if you read it in Ukrainian you read it like Johnsonuk, which sounds like a Ukrainian surname. Ukrainian surnames very often end in “yuk” so we call him Boris Johnsonuk.
[Interrupted]
Vic: So something someone told me was that um because there was the story of the lady, you know, destroying a drone by throwing a jar of pickles out the window, that some Ukrainians started keeping jars of pickles on their window ledge. Have you heard of it?
Chrystyna: Mmm, I think that we just keep our pickles on our balconies all the time because this is a- it’s a popular place.
Vic: Because it’s cooler?
Chrystyna: Yeah! This is probably if people don’t have cellars. But I doubt this story because how can you do that? What kind of drone can it be?
Vic: Yeah, you’d have to have such good aim.
Chrystyna: Absolutely, and the drone, it was not a big one, right?
Vic: I guess it was small- it was before shaheds and stuff were.
Chrystyna: Right, but if it’s a small one, there must be a pilot. So, I, I just… it’s really a questionable story.
Vic: Yeah. It’s a fun story though.
Chrystyna: Yeah, yeah. People needed to hear it.
Vic: Yeah. Do you think that- what do you think about the stories of people stealing tanks, like farmers?
Chrystyna: It was true! It was true, this was documented and-
[Interrupted]
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