For a while we were sure we would get into some kind of trouble by overstaying our visa in Ukraine because of the Covid travel restrictions, but once we were convinced (at maybe the fourth visa office we visited) that there would be no problem we decided to make the most of it and go around to the farther corners of this country. We started with Chernihiv. a city around 50 miles south of the border with Belarus (or 30 miles east of it, because of a finger of that country poking southward). More concerning to the residents of Chernihiv was their being less than 50 east of Chernobyl. Many from this city lived, worked, and died in that city.
Conversation and ice cream at the Chernihiv Train and Bus Station.
I could not ask for a better segue from the last city to this next one.
Two Tupolev Tu-22 airplanes from the Nizhyn Air Base collided quite near that city. The two pilots ejected from their planes. So far so good. But one of the planes flew on! Unmanned. For 52 minutes. Heading right for the next city I am writing about! After 52 minutes the plane finally crashed a few hundred meters from the train station on the south side of town. Of course, the terse Wiki article I read this from raises twice as many questions as answers: Why did the one pilot so quickly leave an apparently functioning airplane? What happened to the other plane? Were there casualties on the ground? Were these pilots, presumably still in training, ever held responsible?
A sad update on those houses pictured above: I received a report yesterday (May 17) that Russian missile strikes have damaged or destroyed eighty percent of the homes in Nizhyn.
MYRHOROD: City of Peace
And up until recent months the city, for the most part, lived up to its name. It was founded as a fortress on the turbulent frontier of Kievan Rus. The 12th and 13th centuries saw this area at times threatened on several sides by powerful entities: Poles, Lithuanians, Turks, and others. It is said that that peace treaties were hammered out here, thus the name “City of peace” – Myrhorod (Миргород).
More to come later. These blog entries always get more involved than I originally plan. The more I research the more interesting bits of information I find. I hope you find this interesting too.