With my new bestie. We had a terrific talk. I’ve been lucky enough to meet a few world leaders in my time, but none with whom I’ve felt such an instant connection. I do not envy the weight of responsibility on his shoulders and a workload that would fell an ox. слава Україні! 🇺🇦
At the Presidential Offices 5 minutes before my meeting with President Zelenskyy – had an amazing conversation. Pictures will follow soon. Naturally I couldn’t take my phone into the inner regions, but there was a photographer and videographer there, so I’ll post when I have received their material
Quite the most marvellous place – the @barmandictat – warm, wonderful hosts, every scotch you’ve ever heard of – even the loos fantastic. The splendid sight of @johncleeseofficial silly walking downstairs greets you as you go down the steps. The perfect air raid shelter …. Kyiv is full of surprises
Quite the most marvellous place – the @barmandictat – warm, wonderful hosts, every scotch you’ve ever heard of – even the loos fantastic. The splendid sight of @johncleeseofficial silly walking downstairs greets you as you go down the steps. The perfect air raid shelter …. Kyiv is full of surprises
Quite the most marvellous place – the @barmandictat – warm, wonderful hosts, every scotch you’ve ever heard of – even the loos fantastic. The splendid sight of @johncleeseofficial silly walking downstairs greets you as you go down the steps. The perfect air raid shelter …. Kyiv is full of surprises
Quite the most marvellous place – the @barmandictat – warm, wonderful hosts, every scotch you’ve ever heard of – even the loos fantastic. The splendid sight of @johncleeseofficial silly walking downstairs greets you as you go down the steps. The perfect air raid shelter …. Kyiv is full of surprises
I hope the @theqielves will back me up here, but I’m pretty damned sure that it was 20 years ago today that QI first appeared on TV. Miss those lovely elves … and of course my personal puppy, Alan
The man himself speaking at the mental health summit in Kyiv today. An incredibly fruitful and inspiring event. Great credit to Olena Zelenska, the First Lady of Ukraine, for devising and creating this. Huge credit to Ukraine itself for understanding that there is strength, not weakness, in acknowledging and addressing the mental health challenges that war brings. Imagine their enemy having such openness and care for their people.
A delightful tour of the Kyiv railway station before boarding the sleeper for Poland. They gave me some very charming gifts, including this card – it is wonderful how fond of Jeeves and Wooster they are in Ukraine
A delightful tour of the Kyiv railway station before boarding the sleeper for Poland. They gave me some very charming gifts, including this card – it is wonderful how fond of Jeeves and Wooster they are in Ukraine
Incredibly humane. That’s what I want to say before I talk about his incandescent wit or his special, ironic perception of the world. 🎙️Stephen Fry @stephenfryactually, a British actor and TV presenter, author of world bestsellers, one of those whose shows generations have grown up watching. I am grateful that he agreed to host our Summit of First Ladies and Gentlemen @summit_flg – and he did not «work» but rather lived it with us, reflecting on each discussion with empathy and understanding. 👉 During one of the panels, Mr. Fry said that he expected to see anything in Kyiv – but he was struck by laughter. The sense of humor that unites all Ukrainians, even those who have lost their families or limbs. And he believes this sense of humor is one of the reasons for our resilience. Thank you, Stephen, for the fact that no matter what topic we were discussing at the forum, you always had a warm smile for Ukrainians, and everyone in the hall felt it. —— Неймовірно людяний. Саме це хочеться сказати, перш ніж говорити про блискавичний розум чи особливе, іронічне відчуття світу. 🎙️Стівен Фрай @stephenfryactually, британський актор і телеведучий, автор світових бестселерів – один із тих, на чиїх шоу виросли покоління. Вдячна, що саме він погодився стати ведучим нашого Саміту перших леді та джентльменів @summit_flg і не працював, а радше прожив його разом із нами, рефлексуючи на кожну дискусію з емпатією й розумінням. 👉 Під час однієї з панелей пан Фрай сказав, що очікував побачити в Києві що завгодно, але його вразив сміх. Почуття гумору, що об’єднує всіх українців, навіть тих, які втратили родини чи кінцівки. І, мовляв, саме це почуття гумору є однією з причин нашої стійкості. Дякую вам, Стівене, за те, що хоч би яку тему на саміті ми обговорювали, тепла усмішка, адресована українцям, завжди була з вами, і це відчував кожен у залі.
If you don’t know about @babynyar do look it up. A horrifying episode in history. Thousands upon thousands (33,700? How does one count) of Jews shot by the Nazis on the edges of the ravine, tumbling one onto another into endless layers of the dead. Romani, those deemed “mentally defective” and many others too. In the last days of the war (oh, they knew what they had done was an imponderable evil) they had the corpses incinerated and the ashes cast to the winds, hoping the memories would be dissipated with them. But @yadvashem, “a memory and a name” exists to reclaim the names and make the memories imperishable. It is now a beautiful memorial, if infinitely sad.
If you don’t know about @babynyar do look it up. A horrifying episode in history. Thousands upon thousands (33,700? How does one count) of Jews shot by the Nazis on the edges of the ravine, tumbling one onto another into endless layers of the dead. Romani, those deemed “mentally defective” and many others too. In the last days of the war (oh, they knew what they had done was an imponderable evil) they had the corpses incinerated and the ashes cast to the winds, hoping the memories would be dissipated with them. But @yadvashem, “a memory and a name” exists to reclaim the names and make the memories imperishable. It is now a beautiful memorial, if infinitely sad.
If you don’t know about @babynyar do look it up. A horrifying episode in history. Thousands upon thousands (33,700? How does one count) of Jews shot by the Nazis on the edges of the ravine, tumbling one onto another into endless layers of the dead. Romani, those deemed “mentally defective” and many others too. In the last days of the war (oh, they knew what they had done was an imponderable evil) they had the corpses incinerated and the ashes cast to the winds, hoping the memories would be dissipated with them. But @yadvashem, “a memory and a name” exists to reclaim the names and make the memories imperishable. It is now a beautiful memorial, if infinitely sad.
You might think this strange, but you might consider downloading one of the Ukraine air raid alert apps. The persistence and regularity with which they go off (you can switch off the noisy siren element and just have it notify you) is a good reminder of what the people of Ukraine are going through every day. Air Alert! is one app, Air Alarm Ukraine another.
You might think this strange, but you might consider downloading one of the Ukraine air raid alert apps. The persistence and regularity with which they go off (you can switch off the noisy siren element and just have it notify you) is a good reminder of what the people of Ukraine are going through every day. Air Alert! is one app, Air Alarm Ukraine another.
Awoken at 4:45 am by an insistent voice ordering all at the hotel to go down to the air raid shelter. So here we are. Someone showed me an app to download: as you can see, agrees with the order to stay sheltered. So here we all are down in the basement of the hotel. Coffee machine. Loungers. People laughing and chattering quite happily. No sound of drones or inbound missiles that I can detect…
Nikita Titov’s picture of the horror and hopeless of humanity (now, shush, Stephen) … don’t you love those simple fluid lines, though?
I wasn’t smart enough to think of bringing a laptop down… the more seasoned citizens knew better.
Had an extraordinary and wonderful conversation with the artist Nikita Titov, very well known here. He came with a surprise gift, a picture of me which touched me very deeply. We stood close to the selection of captured Russian armoured vehicles outside St Michael’s (destroyed by the Bolsheviks back in Soviet days but since rebuilt). Now off to rehearse tomorrow’s summit on mental health. It’s hot here but getting much hotter in the homeland I’m told. Stay cool, Britain!
A chamber of hell. The inside of a defeated Russian armoured vehicle…
The all clear sounds and life goes on in Kyiv…
Did an interview for Ukraine TV yesterday. Here’s a YouTube link – of course being Instagram, if you cwant to see it you’ll have to input the URL with old school finger taps on the keyboard…
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