Concrete Sunflowers

Concrete Sunflowers: Ukrainian culture through the eyes of an international volunteer

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  • Mary on folk heroes

    Vic:  So can you tell me about Pes Patron? Mary: I’ve always loved Pes Patron. When I first came to Lviv in December of 22, there were Pes Patron posters everywhere, and I just thought it was amazing. I have young refugee friends in Berlin. I purchase Pest Patron books for them. I purchased Pes…

  • Amy on what was in that jar

    Note: This quick interview took place after more than a few drinks during a group dinner. Vic: So what was in the jar that the old lady threw at the drone? Amy: Pickled tomatoes. Vic: Where did you hear that it was tomatoes? Amy: In an interview she did. Vic: You think there was actually…

  • Oksana on folk heroes

    Oksana: Yes, so when the war started in- when there was this explosion in Dubai, in Ukraine already appeared some funny videos. Well not funny but such videos about which we have the jar of pickles, and now there is such an anecdote of story that in Dubai a woman hit the missile by the…

  • Valeria on Johnsonuk

    Vic: Can you explain Johnsonuk to me? Valeria: It’s a very funny phenomenon because, well- I don’t know about him much, but I only know that he was in a position of power, some power in the UK. At the time, well, at the start of the full-scale invasion war he was coming to Ukraine…

  • Max on his experiences and the stories he’s heard

    Trigger warning: This story contains mentions of sexual violence Max: So, my name is Max, I’m 19 years old, I was born here at Lviv oblast, in small town named Zhydachiv, but later I moved to another region named Rivne oblast and almost for 12 years I lived here before moving. Vic: Thank you. So,…

  • Daria on folk heroes

    Vic: So first, can you tell me your name, please? Daria: My name is Daria. I’m a Ukrainian from Kharkiv, 26 years old. Vic: Thank you. So have you got any stories that you might want to share about heroes you’ve heard that have emerged in Ukraine since the start of the full-scale invasion? Daria:…

  • Iryna on runes and playing cards

    Vic: So as a Ukrainian person, when you see people with the rune amulets or rune chevrons or tattoos, do those have any connotations for you? Iryna: Well, I grew up in a family where tattoos are banned <laughs>. So I think that people can, you know, have as many tattoos as they want because…

  • Kraken soldiers on beliefs and intuition

    Vic: How familiar are you with the Ghost of Kyiv? Has the story come to Kharkiv a lot? Roman: Should I answer in Ukrainian? Vic: Whatever you prefer. Roman: Personally, I don’t know the Ghost of Kyiv. Of course, I heard about him at the start of the war, even before I arrived in Ukraine.…

  • Valeria on folk heroes: part 2

    Series: Valeria’s story Valeria on folk heroes: part 1 Valeria on folk heroes: part 2 Vic: Do you think that language barriers contribute to people’s decisions? Valeria: Yes, because you know, Russian propaganda works really well, and they think that- well, there are indeed some people like this. But in truth, most of Ukrainian speaking…

  • Valeria on folk heroes: part 1

    Series: Valeria’s story Valeria on folk heroes: part 1 Valeria on folk heroes: part 2 Vic: Did you ever see any Ghost of Kyiv mentions on VK? Valeria: No, I don’t think so. I think I just exited it soon enough, you know, just in the first day of war, I was like, “No, I’m…

  • Valeria’s story

    Series: Valeria’s story Valeria on folk heroes: part 1 Valeria on folk heroes: part 2 Vic:  Can you tell me your name first and where you’re from? Valeria: I’m Valeria from Donetsk region, the town of Avdiivka. Vic: And roughly how old are you? Valeria: 20 Vic: And you’re currently living in Lviv? Valeria: Yeah,…

  • Ostap on premonitions

    Part 1: Ostap on his experiences with Kraken Ostap: Anything could happen. There just weren’t that many people around—many had left. And, generally, a lot of people were allowed to pass, let go. Though some were simply shot in their cars right in the middle of the road. Everyone was scared, not knowing what to…

  • Ostap on his experiences with Kraken

    Part 2: Ostap on premonitions I: Just so you know, I’m the interpreter. I can translate if it’s easier for you to speak. If you want to add anything in Ukrainian later, I’ll translate it. [translates into English] Ostap: I’ll try in English first, and we’ll see how it goes. I: If you need help,…

  • Maksym on language

    I: We tried to get some street interviews yesterday. We approached all kinds of people – young, old, men, women. Most of them turned us down. Why is that? Maksym: Eighty percent of the population in Kharkiv right now are displaced people. See them over there with the bags? [Points to a group at a…

  • Maksym on the unique position of military volunteers

    I: What meaning do flags have at the frontline? What do soldiers say if they have a flag? How do they feel if they don’t have one? Does it carry a specific meaning, or are there traditions tied to them? Maksym: I’m not sure I follow the question. I: I put a lot into that…

  • An attack on Kyiv

    Iryna: So this is our first time in Kyiv. We go there on a volunteer mission, and we exit the train station. We leave all the backpacks, all our belongings, at the train station, because we still had a few hours before we could check into our hotel room. And we’re like, “Yeah, let’s go…

  • Iryna and the bullet

    Iryna: Okay, so back in 2022 when they still had the security checkpoint in Kharkiv train station. We were going back from Balakliia, it’s like the- it was a recently liberated area. It was probably liberated within the last couple of weeks, and you could see all these different, you know, bullets on the ground,…

  • Eric on luck and religion during basic training

    Part 1: Eric on basic training Vic: Do you have anything you’re going to take for good luck? Eric: Actually, yes. I’ve this small figurine of a cat that, I’ve had it for years, just kind of in my bag as a, I don’t know, good luck thing. <laughs> Vic: Is it something from home?…

  • Eric on basic training

    Part 2: Eric on luck and religion during basic training Eric: It is, you know <laughs> fucking exhausted. Vic: Has the car situation been sorted? Eric: Fuck no. That fucking idiot is like, drunk in Ivano-Frankivsk being a fucking menace to society. I’m like, “hey, asshole, come back with my car please”. Vic: <laughs> So…

  • Iryna’s church dream

    Iryna: It’s probably the weirdest and the most strange story that has ever happened to me in my whole entire life. It was probably day three or day four of the full-scale invasion. I was super sick, super high fever, chills, I could barely go to the toilet. I lived by myself in a dormitory…

  • Chrystyna on folk heroes

    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,…

  • Chrystyna’s story

    This interview took place whilst volunteering in a kitchen in Kyiv.  Chrystyna [name changed] was born in the USSR in territory which is now Russia.  Her family moved to Ukraine when she was a child, and she is solely a Ukrainian citizen. TW: This story contains references to suicide. Part two: Chrystyna on folk heroes…

  • Discussion on staying safe during air raids

    Vic: Could you just say the thing you said again about how you think that maybe people are more interested in luck when they’re dealing with IEDs? Jason: Yeah. I just think the nature of the threat that IEDs pose in the wars that the US and the UK and NATO and definitely thought Iraq…

  • Jason on premonitions

    Jason: It’s big in the US military. It’s not formalized in any way, but there are stories about people driving through neighbourhoods where an IED’s been planted and they can sense that something’s off, and then deviate from what they’re gonna do in some way. And it turns out yeah there is an IED laying…

  • Jason on good luck charms in Afghanistan

    Vic: <laughs> Proceed Jason: Before my first combat tour in Afghanistan- my mom, who’s sort of, a bit of a lapsed Catholic but still semi-practicing, wanted to give me a St. Christopher medal. St. Christopher is the patron saint of travellers and soldiers, maybe, I don’t know. And she figured that two St. Christopher’s medals…

  • Jason on stories filtering into the US

    [Note: This interview took place whilst volunteering in a kitchen in Kyiv] Vic:  So that’s recording now. Hopefully it’ll pick you up, there’s definitely background noise here! But yeah, if you could tell me the characters that you’ve just mentioned? Jason: Yeah. I’m definitely not as immersed in this as the volunteers who have been…

  • Mary on Five Huts

    Mary: It was really funny today to see a bus coming from the north, coming down the main street of Sumska [in Kharkiv], and the destination on the bus was Pyatykhatska, which means “five huts”. And that’s a name of a town which obviously started off with just five huts. But it’s a thing with…

  • Olha and her café under occupation

    H: Henry, I: Iryna, O: Olha H: Does she remember my fish? [Iryna and the fish] I: [in Ukrainian to Respondent] Do you remember that fish we brought you? It was a huge fish. That was back in ’22. O: Honestly, I don’t remember that any more. So many people have passed through, so many…

  • Iryna and the fish

    Iryna: So we were in Balakliia back in 2022 and there was this local market for the local people. It wasn’t regulated or anything, so the locals would go fishing and they would sell whatever they had in that local market. I got sick and I asked Henry to go and pick up some fish…

  • Viktor the retired soldier

    V — Viktor | I — Interpreter V: At that moment, there was nothing left of the city… if you take a five-story building, just a corner of the house — that’s all that remained. Nothing else was left. I: That was in ’22, probably? Somewhere in the autumn. V: Yes, it was November. I:…

  • Bogdan on folk heroes and idiot soldiers

    Part 1: Bogdan on his time in captivity: Part 1 Part 2: Bogdan on his time in captivity: Part 2 Part 3: A smoke break with Bogdan Part 4: Bogdan on the Civilian Prisoners of War organisation V: When I talk to people from Lviv and Kyiv, they’re quite far from the front. Especially in Lviv, where you…

  • Bogdan on the Civilian Prisoners of War organisation

    Part 1: Bogdan on his time in captivity: Part 1 Part 2: Bogdan on his time in captivity: Part 2 Part 3: A smoke break with Bogdan I: Do you feel like it’s history repeating itself, like when you were a kid and you looked after him and took care of him? Now you have…

  • A smoke break with Bogdan

    Part 1: Bogdan on his time in captivity: Part 1 Part 2: Bogdan on his time in captivity: Part 2 I: [in Ukrainian] Can I have one more stick, please? I… don’t smoke— H: Khm… I: [in English] Just one. V: [laughs]. I: I love this. I quit smoking IQOS, well, quit smoking altogether… After…