Russia’s invasion of Ukraine entered its second year on Friday. On the spot, no one imagined that the conflict would drag on like this. However, outside the eastern front, life is organized in the capital, kyiv, as these French people testify.
Cinemas reopened, again traffic jams in the streets at rush hour: kyiv has regained some normality since last summer. The French are a few hundred to have remained despite the bombardments and alerts. Most go back and forth between Ukraine and France, like Carlos from Cordoba.
Director of Crédit Agricole in Ukraine, the Frenchman arrived in kyiv three years ago. The bank then employed 2,500 people in 150 branches. 80% are still open today, especially in the capital, where life has so resumed its course, after the departure Russian troops, towards the eastern front and the Donbass:
“Today you go to Kiev, the restaurants are open. The only thing is that it’s punctuated with alerts, but a lot of people have gotten used to it, and continue with their normal lives. The shops remain open.”
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First and last mile diplomacy
The French Embassy in Ukraine always remained open during the war. A time moved to Lviv, in the west, near Poland, it is one of the first foreign representations to have returned to Kiev, and to have continued to operate, it is one of the great pride of the ambassador , Étienne de Poncins, interviewed on France Inter:
“We practice what I call first-mile diplomacy, that is to say, identify their needs. So, we go to their contact to find out about these requests, which we send to Paris, to the various ministries. And then , afterwards, it is the diplomacy of the last kilometer, we give this aid and we communicate around the support that we bring to each other.”
What impresses Carlos of Cordoba the most is the ingenuity and agility shown by the Ukrainians, once past the state of amazement at the start of the Russian invasion, especially after the blockading of the ports and Black Sea agricultural silos by Kremlin troops:
“It was really spectacular to see, it’s how all the logistics chains were reoriented, and in particular the train and the truck, to be able to transport the cereals by land, Poland, then especially Romania and the ports of the Danube. The Europeans have been very supportive of these creations of corridors. And from 500,000 tonnes per month by land, we went to 2.5 million tonnes at the beginning of the summer of last year. “
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Pascal Boiteux has also lived for several years in kyiv
Like a good part of his compatriots, for a year, he has made a few round trips between Ukraine and France. One thing is certain, he says, the Ukrainians are not ready to sit down with the Russians, to sign on a corner of the table the end of the war:
“What I feel very strongly at the level of the population is that they want their children to be able to live in peace, and that it does not happen again. There is not this spirit of wanting to stop the war at all cost.”
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According to a poll, 95% of Ukrainians believe in the victory of their country against Russia, which shows that the country’s determination does not diminish after a year of war.
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The Franco-Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI)
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