The Ukrainian city Lviv has become a de facto safe haven if Russia attacks

The Ukrainian city Lviv has become a de facto safe haven¹ if Russia attacks

Transcript²

Foreign embassies, expats and Ukrainians fearing a Russian invasion are heading west to Lviv, a jazz-loving city near NATO and EU countries that feels safe from bombs but not from Russian cyberwar.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

The city of Lviv in the far west of Ukraine has become a de facto safe haven for those fearing a potential Russian attack. It's only about an hour's drive from Poland, and in 2014, thousands of Ukrainians relocated there when war began in the East. Now the U.S. and other embassies have moved their personnel and operations to Lviv. NPR's Joanna Kakissis reports on what life in the city is like now.

JOANNA KAKISSIS, BYLINE³: These days, in Lviv's cobblestone central square, you see a lot of Ukrainians on what they call extended vacations. One is Svietlana Frolova, a schoolteacher from the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.

SVIETLANA FROLOVA: (Non-English language spoken).

KAKISSIS: She explains that she's here because she's afraid. Her hometown is just 25 miles from the Russian border, so she and her 5-year-old son went as far away as they could.

FROLOVA: (Through interpreter) It's all much better organized than our hometown, where there are no shelters and it feels much more dangerous.

KAKISSIS: On this same square, the top U.S. diplomat⁴ in Ukraine, Kristina Kvien, also blamed Russian aggression⁵ for the American Embassy's move to Lviv.

KRISTINA KVIEN: So while we're here in Lviv, our core team will continue to engage, night and day, to help Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression.

(SOUONDBITE OF MUSIC)

KAKISSIS: Russia does feel very far away in Lviv.

IVANKA GONAK: It is the safe zone. Yeah, it is. And the possibility of invasion getting right here is rather small.

KAKISSIS: Tour guide Ivanka Gonak says it's not just the geographic⁶ distance, which is nearly 700 miles from Russia. It's the historical distance, too. Unlike Eastern Ukraine, Lviv was barely influenced by the Russian Empire.

GONAK: This city, from its very beginnings, was connected and incorporated into the cultural space of Europe in general. Walking over the streets in Lviv, you might see whole Europe in miniature. Right now, we're walking along Austrian quarters, and the illusion like we are somewhere in Vienna is perfect.

KAKISSIS: She points to baroque and renaissance⁷ buildings. Lviv spent hundreds of years as part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Kingdom of Poland.

GONAK: In Lviv, history takes such unexpected, unusual turns and mixes it all up.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

KAKISSIS: At a restaurant dating to the Habsburg era, historian Ihor Lilo talks about one year Lviv changed hands.

IHOR LILO: My mother and my father was born in the same year, in 1939. So - in the village close to the city. But my father was born in July, like a citizen of Poland, but my mother, in November 1, like a citizen of the Soviet⁸ Union.

KAKISSIS: Thousands of Ukrainians fled to Lviv after the Russian invasion in 2014. Oksana Novikova and her family left their home in Crimea in Ukraine's south. She now runs a chain of popular Crimean bakeries in Lviv.

OKSANA NOVIKOVA: (Through interpreter) Lviv is well-suited for business development, much more than any other city. More than Crimea, for sure.

KAKISSIS: Some international companies are moving their Ukraine headquarters from Kyiv to Lviv.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

KAKISSIS: But cybersecurity expert Nadiya Balovsyak says Lviv can't protect itself from the long arm of Russian cyber war. For months now, parents in Lviv have been getting text messages warning of bomb threats in schools nearly every day. Ukrainian police say they have traced the bomb threats to Moscow-affiliated bot farms.

NADIYA BALOVSYAK: (Through interpreter) The goal is to distract security services from doing their job, like catching⁹ criminals or firefighting. They're wasting their time looking for fake bombs.

KAKISSIS: Balovsyak says the fake bomb threats are creating a low-grade unease in society. Mayor Andriy Sadovyi says this psychological war has gone on for years.

ANDRIY SADOVYI: (Through interpreter) Our enemies probably thought that by attacking us with fake news about bomb threats, they would cause some panic in Lviv. But go for a walk. You won't see any panic. People are living their normal lives.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

KAKISSIS: At a jazz club called the LV, Anastasia Bulgakova is relieving her panic by singing her heart out.

ANASTASIA BULGAKOVA: (Singing) Days of wine and roses.

Oh, I'm trying to just close my eyes to all this things, all this facts, what's happening right now because it's making me so much upset. It's why I'm just try to be in my world - yeah, in my music world. I'm just making what I can.

KAKISSIS: Sometimes war with Russia feels too close, even here in what everyone calls the safest place in Ukraine.

Joanna Kakissis, NPR News, Lviv.

(SOUNDBITE OF CHRISTIAN SCOTT'S "THE ERASER")

1 haven   

n.安全的地方，避难所，庇护所

参考例句：

• It's a real haven at the end of a busy working day.忙碌了一整天后，这真是一个安乐窝。
• The school library is a little haven of peace and quiet.学校的图书馆是一个和平且安静的小避风港。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 diplomat   

n.外交官，外交家；能交际的人，圆滑的人

参考例句：

• The diplomat threw in a joke, and the tension was instantly relieved.那位外交官插进一个笑话，紧张的气氛顿时缓和下来。
• He served as a diplomat in Russia before the war.战前他在俄罗斯当外交官。

5 aggression   

n.进攻，侵略，侵犯，侵害

参考例句：

• So long as we are firmly united, we need fear no aggression.只要我们紧密地团结，就不必惧怕外来侵略。
• Her view is that aggression is part of human nature.她认为攻击性是人类本性的一部份。

6 geographic   

adj.地理学的，地理的

参考例句：

• The city's success owes much to its geographic position. 这座城市的成功很大程度上归功于它的地理位置。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Environmental problems pay no heed to these geographic lines. 环境问题并不理会这些地理界限。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

7 renaissance   

n.复活，复兴，文艺复兴

参考例句：

• The Renaissance was an epoch of unparalleled cultural achievement.文艺复兴是一个文化上取得空前成就的时代。
• The theme of the conference is renaissance Europe.大会的主题是文艺复兴时期的欧洲。

8 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

9 catching   

adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住

参考例句：

• There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
• Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。