War Through the Eyes of Meduza Readers. Today We Are Publishing a Letter From Sergey in Novorossiysk

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War. What is happening on day 1,557. On the night of May 30, Ukrainian drones struck Taganrog in Rostov Region, Armavir in Krasnodar Krai, and Feodosia in annexed Crimea. The commander of the AFU Unmanned Systems Forces, Robert Brovdi, said that in the port…

War through the eyes of Meduza readers. Today we are publishing a letter from Sergey in Novorossiysk.

Before, a very long time ago, when I watched war footage from places like Syria, I used to think: how do people even live there under constant bombings, why don’t they leave? And then I got the answer to my own question when the first strikes on Novorossiysk began, first uncrewed boats, and then drones as well. It turned out that a person is extremely adaptable to any circumstances. The first few times it was scary, but then you get used to it and live as if nothing happened, only sometimes grumbling after a hard shift: “Sirens again, explosions again, let me sleep.”

Even when a neighboring building gets hit, there is no fear, you think of it as an accident. It is the same as dying in a car crash: circumstances simply came together that way. It is especially hard to change your whole way of life when you love your city and do not want to trade your job and your life for something else. You adapt to the changing rules of the game. And many others live like this too; very few people in my circle have left the city, let alone moved abroad. I think other cities, such as Moscow, will also simply get used to it over time and go on living as if nothing happened.

What surprises me more is society’s reaction to internet blocks, not to the war and constant attacks. That speaks quite vividly about people’s current priorities in life.

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