Summary

The article presents personal accounts of how the war in Ukraine has impacted the daily lives of individuals in Russia, Poland, and Ukraine, as shared by the author's three friends.

Abstract

The author of the article shares insights into the varying effects of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine on the lives of people in Russia, Poland, and Ukraine through the perspectives of three friends. The friend in Russia reports minimal changes in daily life despite sanctions, with the most significant inconvenience being the inability to purchase digital PS5 games due to credit card restrictions. In Poland, the situation is more dire, with the country serving as a hub for Ukrainian refugees and experiencing the consequences of Russia's geopolitical maneuvers, including the cutoff of gas supplies. The Polish friend expresses a sense of foreboding about the escalation of violence and the potential use of nuclear weapons by Russia. Meanwhile, in Ukraine, the reality of war is stark, with an independent filmmaker documenting the harrowing experiences of civilians, including the targeting of children, and conveying messages of unity and shared loss among mothers on both sides of the conflict.

Opinions

The Russian friend perceives life as relatively unchanged, with the exception of certain product shortages and payment system issues, and notes that many Russians remain supportive of Putin despite the economic strain.
The Polish friend, who has always been critical of Russia, feels vindicated in his views about Putin and is

Is Life Actually Any Worse for Russians Now?

I asked three friends

I have three friends.

Well, not only three. But three nonetheless.

One of these friends is in Poland, another is in Ukraine filming a documentary, and another is in Russia.

The guy in Russia isn’t so much a friend as he’s a friend of a friend.

Anyway, I got in touch with all of them recently and asked how has their quality of life changed during this war?

Their answers might surprise you.

Russia: “Literally the only thing that changed for me is that I can’t buy digital PS5 games anymore”

Russia is now the most sanctioned nation in the world. How is it coping?

Apparently on a day-to-day level, fine.

According to this friend, who wishes to remain anonymous, most stores are full and imported items from brands that left Russia are still there.

My next question was: Arent you supposed to have all social media blocked?

As far as he knew the only social media that got blocked were Facebook and Twitter, and he never used them anyway so he didn’t care.

The most popular social media app in Russia is the state-sponsored VKontakte (vk.com), which is used by 61% of Russians and 28% of the population uses it daily.

What really surprised me is this friend told me, “depending on who you ask, during this war some things got better, some got worse.” He said many people remain pro-Putin.

“I Don’t know about the economy, it’s probably running on fumes. But my personal life wasn’t affected almost at all. Some groceries are up 20–30%, utilities didn’t go up — that’s expected this year I guess, I don’t have a car so I don’t care much about gas prices and car part prices.

Credit cards not working with online payment systems is annoying as hell, I can’t even buy Steam games or pay with paypal. Other than that — I don’t feel like anything changed at all.”

Poland: “It’s rough, my town has refugee camps for Ukrainians”

Poland is in the middle of this entire crisis.

The West is using Poland to move weapons into Ukraine, while Russia is using it to strongman more of its antipathy toward NATO.

Earlier this week Russia shut off gas to Poland and now they have to buy gas from Germany at a premium. Poland is also expected to take on the brunt of Ukrainian refugees.

“You see Ukranian cars driving everywhere, it's a sad time here,” Maksymilian Maslak, my Polish friend, told me. “My town has refugee camps for Ukrainians — two nights ago I was driving behind Ukrainian army vehicles.”

Ever since I’ve known Maksymillan, I call him “Max,” there are two things that existed in him: 1) Tremendous pride in his Polish heritage 2) Rivalry, turned hatred, for Russia

We used to argue about the significance of the Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky all the time. Those were the good times.

In the present times, he tells me about how the Polish people knew Vladimir Putin was a tyrant and how things were always going to end violently.

“Putin is crazy, and that’s why he needs to go. Russia’s only bargaining chip is nukes — I just hope that whoever has control of that big red button goes against Putin if it comes to that.”

Ukraine: “There’s no such thing as another person’s child. If they’re killing my sons it means they’re killing your sons too.”

My friend **Tasos Karantakos** (on the right) in Ukraine

I met Tasos last summer in New York.

He is an independent filmmaker from Greece and almost instantly I knew he was of the most likable, optimistic human beings I ever met. We spent the entire day asking New Yorkers “What do you love about the city?”

Now Tasos is doing something much different, he’s documenting the horrors inside Ukraine.

“I was in Gostomel when I realized war was happening, they were shooting civilians, I saw it all,” said a Ukrainian woman in Tasos’s new film ‘48 Hours Inside Ukraine’. “I’m now living at my friend's house in Lviv, but it's only temporary because they have their own lives and we need to start building our new ones…. in every person’s family something has happened, something that cannot be fixed.”

Personally speaking, I’ve been keeping up with the war in Ukraine too much through the headlines and talking heads — and not enough with what's actually going on there. Tasos's film is heartbreaking.

Another Ukrainian woman he interviewed had a message for the mothers of the Russian soldiers:

“There’s no such thing as another person’s child. If they’re killing my sons it means they’re killing your sons too.”

A Tale of 3 Friends

Perspective is everything.

It’s why I’m grateful for the friends I have.

These three friends have never met, yet I hope from reading this they’ll learn a thing or two about what the other is going through (or lack thereof).

Pray for Ukraine.

Or better yet — donate.

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