Emergency workers search rubble after a Russian rocket attack killed more than 50 people in the village of Hroza near Kharkiv on Thursday, Ukraine time. Photo / AP
Emergency workers search rubble after a Russian rocket attack killed more than 50 people in the village of Hroza near Kharkiv on Thursday, Ukraine time. Photo / AP
A New Zealand businessman who dodged air raids on a return to Kyiv is confident his compatriots can hold out despite concerns some in the West may be about to abandon Ukraine.
Michael Devoe left Ukraine when Russia invaded in February 2022, driving across Europe and setting up a newhome in the Netherlands.
In the past week, a pro-Kremlin party had a Parliamentary election victory in Ukraine’s neighbour Slovakia, and some Republicans in the US argued against continued aid for Ukraine.
But Devoe, who runs a carbon trading business, told the Herald Ukraine had received some important military aid in recent months.
“Things have been ramping up ... they’re training pilots in F-16s. There’s a whole pile of F-16s waiting to go out,” he said, referring to the fourth-generation fighter jets.
Devoe’s adult daughter is still in Ukraine and he said many aspects of normal life were continuing in the capital city.
But every so often in Kyiv, there was a violent reminder of the ongoing war.
“I was there in the summer. I was getting some dental work done. I was walking back from the dentist and the air raid went off. Some minutes later it’s like ‘bang bang bang bang bang’.”
He said Ukraine shot down the incoming Russian missiles and people took shelter.
“I guess [it’s] a bit scary. You never know if some bits are going to kill you.”
But the air defences in Kyiv were pretty good, he said.
Locals were often calm, and determined to go about their daily business.
Kiwi expat businessman Michael Devoe described life in Kyiv as a strange, sometimes surreal mix of the mundane and the terrifying.
“Universities are still operating, businesses are still operating.
“People have adapted to it. And I guess in the early days, Kyiv was surrounded or three-quarters surrounded by Russian troops, so that was a different time from now.”
But the bombings, drone attacks and missiles were still a serious and persistent problem, he said.
He said being in Kyiv was a sometimes “surreal” experience.
He had some concerns about family back in Ukraine but said adult children made their own decisions about where to live.
Devoe said many people moved from the frontline and other Ukrainian regions to Kyiv since the invasion, so the city was busy.
And many more had left the country.
Devoe said the scale of the exodus never really dawned on him at the time.
“Five, six million people left Ukraine in just a matter of weeks ... when you’re driving in a column you can only see the car in front of you and behind you.”
But he understood other Ukrainians had stayed, even close to the frontline, where a war of attrition had been raging for months.
“There are quite a few civilians, people who either couldn’t or don’t want to leave.”
Ukraine ambassador to New Zealand Vasyl Myroshnychenko said despite recent upheavals in Slovakia and the US he was confident broad public and political support remained for Ukraine across Western democracies.
Vasyl Myroshnychenko, ambassador of Ukraine to Australia and New Zealand with his wife and son, meeting Governor-General Dame Cindy Kiro at Government House in Wellington last year.
“We’ve seen bipartisan support of Ukraine in America.”
He told the Herald a small faction within the Republican party was against that support, but some political ructions in the lead-up to US presidential elections in November next year were to be expected.
“Most importantly, a majority of the American people support Ukraine.”
In Slovakia, former Prime Minister Robert Fico’s SMER-SSD party won 23.37 per cent of votes in a Parliamentary election so still needed allies to form a government.
Reuters said Fico pledged to end military supplies to Ukraine.
Myroshnychenko said Slovakia was still a Nato and European Union member and any pro-Russian shift in Slovakia should not be an existential threat.
The ambassador said he and other Ukrainians were grateful for New Zealand’s support.
“So far the support for Ukraine within New Zealand has been bipartisan and I hope it’s going to remain so.”
Ukrainian policemen at the scene of the Russian rocket attack in Hroza near Kharkiv. Photo / AP
The ambassador said the international community should condemn the act.
“It’s really important that statements are made and that the New Zealand Government also reacts to this heinous war crime,” Myroshnychenko said.
He said Russian President Vladimir Putin hoped to sap the resolve of Ukraine’s allies.
“What Putin is betting on is a protracted war ... The whole idea is to get everyone tired,” he said.
“Now like never before we should demonstrate the unity and the resilience of the international coalition,” Myroshnychenko said.
“That includes New Zealand as well.”
John Weekes is online business editor. He has covered courts, politics, crime and consumer affairs. He rejoined the Herald in 2020, previously working at Stuff and News Regional, Australia.
