Russia hasn't hit Lviv directly yet but signs of war are everywhere

Russia hasn't hit Lviv directly yet but signs of war are everywhere

Transcript¹

NPR's Leila Fadel tours the Ukrainian city of Lviv, where a number of provocative² war-time posters have gone up since Russia's invasion began, and she meets the artist behind the work.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

I'm Leila Fadel in Lviv. It's a city that so far hasn't been directly hit in Russia's war on Ukraine. Many restaurants and cafes are still open. People are out and about during the day. But even here, as you walk the cobbled streets of the safer but not necessarily safe part of Ukraine, signs of a country at war are everywhere - literal signs. The first is just outside our hotel. A decal on the rear windshield of a car reads...

OLENA LYSENKO: Russian military ship, go F yourself. It's a very popular slogan nowadays.

FADEL: So before the war happened two weeks ago, would you ever see obscenities on signs in Lviv?

LYSENKO: Not really, no.

FADEL: That's our interpreter, Olena Lysenko. As we walk, she points to ads on bus stops that typically promote movies and live shows. Now those signs play up the strength of Ukraine.

LYSENKO: Thank you for the...

FADEL: There's one with a honey badger³ tearing apart a Russian bear. Another shows Russian soldiers dissolving into the ground, sunflowers sprouting⁴ from their remains⁵. But it's a poster on the other side of the square that really captures the deep anger toward Russia. At the bottom of the poster, there's a little graphic⁶ - eyes and a handlebar mustache. The next day, a tall man in a hoodie with that handlebar mustache meets us in the city center. Andriy Yermolenko walks us to one of the signs he created.

So we came here the other day, and we saw this, and we saw your name...

ANDRIY YERMOLENKO: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

FADEL: ...Which is why we called you. So if you could just tell me what we're looking at.

YERMOLENKO: (Through interpreter) This is very long conversation and very long story, but I'm going to show you what this is about.

FADEL: He pulls out his laptop, opens it up, and hundreds of illustrations pop up. He stops at one of his pieces from 2014, when Russia invaded and annexed⁷ Crimea. This is the start of Yermolenko's very long story.

YERMOLENKO: (Through interpreter) We were made to have some compromise, and this looked something like this.

FADEL: So this is a pistol being put into a woman's mouth, and it says, think of finding a compromise. This was from 2014.

YERMOLENKO: (Through interpreter) We were told that you are very weak, and you need to find a compromise because you will not stand.

FADEL: In 2014, Ukraine made concessions⁸ to Russian-backed separatists in the east to try to bring an end to the fighting. Yermolenko says Ukrainians understood then compromise with Russia would never work.

YERMOLENKO: (Through interpreter) We've been living in this situation when they tell us that Ukraine doesn't exist, there is no Ukrainian culture, that we are not really humans. But we live with that.

FADEL: The wartime poster in front of us is the continuation of that woman's story, Ukraine's story. It's work he donated to the Ukrainian territorial⁹ defense¹⁰.

So this poster is very different. That poster shows a gun in the mouth of a woman - a position of weakness, really. This poster shows that woman putting that gun...

YERMOLENKO: (Non-English language spoken).

FADEL: In this new one, he flips¹¹ the narrative¹². It's the same woman, eight years older. She's more confident, her hair pulled back by a headband of yellow and blue flowers, the colors of Ukraine's flag. This time, she's holding the gun, the barrel inside Russian President Vladimir Putin's mouth. The text on the sign reads, I'm not a beauty for you. It refers to lyrics¹³ Putin quoted from a Soviet-era punk song that references rape¹⁴ and necrophilia.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN: (Non-English language spoken).

FADEL: Whether you like it or don't like it, Russia's president said in the weeks before he started this war, bear with it, my beauty. Just as his country was being threatened by Putin in the days before the war, he was getting threats on Facebook over his work.

YERMOLENKO: (Through interpreter) My personal account was attacked by haters from Russia. I received a very interesting message saying, are you ready? Did you leave the country? We will come after you soon.

FADEL: Obviously, everyone in Ukraine feels unsafe right now. There's a Russian invasion and bombardments of cities. But do you think you have a particular target on your back?

YERMOLENKO: (Through interpreter) I don't care. What can they do to me? The maximum what they can do is to kill me. Nothing else.

FADEL: Like so many Ukrainians, Yermolenko is defiant¹⁵, unwilling¹⁶ to succumb¹⁷ to a much larger country attacking his own.

So on the top of your poster, it says #UkrainiansWillResist. Are these posters your form of resistance?

YERMOLENKO: (Through interpreter) Absolutely. These are my bullets. And actually, it's very hard for me to create my work right now because I want to go back to Kyiv, and I don't know if I will be able to do that.

FADEL: I'm so sorry. I know this is hard to talk about. So in this conversation, I feel pain from you, frustration¹⁸, anger. Can you talk about those feelings? What's moving you to tears?

YERMOLENKO: (Through interpreter) The whole country is in pain right now. You need to understand that when they bombard hospitals where pregnant women are, and somebody is at the same time - somewhere, somebody very high are deciding to provide us with the weapons or not - it's hard.

FADEL: Hard, he says, not to be in control of Western leaders' decisions on how and when to help. All he can control is the messages in his political art.

(SOUNDBITE OF GUSTAVO SANTAOLALLA'S "AS IT CHUD BE")

1 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。

2 provocative   

adj.挑衅的，煽动的，刺激的，挑逗的

参考例句：

• She wore a very provocative dress.她穿了一件非常性感的裙子。
• His provocative words only fueled the argument further.他的挑衅性讲话只能使争论进一步激化。

3 badger   

v.一再烦扰，一再要求，纠缠

参考例句：

• Now that our debts are squared.Don't badger me with them any more.我们的债务两清了。从此以后不要再纠缠我了。
• If you badger him long enough,I'm sure he'll agree.只要你天天纠缠他，我相信他会同意。

4 sprouting   

v.发芽( sprout的现在分词 )；抽芽；出现；（使）涌现出

参考例句：

• new leaves sprouting from the trees 树上长出的新叶
• They were putting fresh earth around sprouting potato stalks. 他们在往绽出新芽的土豆秧周围培新土。 来自名作英译部分

5 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

6 graphic   

adj.生动的，形象的，绘画的，文字的，图表的

参考例句：

• The book gave a graphic description of the war.这本书生动地描述了战争的情况。
• Distinguish important text items in lists with graphic icons.用图标来区分重要的文本项。

7 annexed   

[法] 附加的，附属的

参考例句：

• Germany annexed Austria in 1938. 1938年德国吞并了奥地利。
• The outlying villages were formally annexed by the town last year. 那些偏远的村庄于去年正式被并入该镇。

8 concessions   

n.（尤指由政府或雇主给予的）特许权( concession的名词复数 )；承认；减价；（在某地的）特许经营权

参考例句：

• The firm will be forced to make concessions if it wants to avoid a strike. 要想避免罢工，公司将不得不作出一些让步。
• The concessions did little to placate the students. 让步根本未能平息学生的愤怒。

9 territorial   

adj.领土的，领地的

参考例句：

• The country is fighting to preserve its territorial integrity.该国在为保持领土的完整而进行斗争。
• They were not allowed to fish in our territorial waters.不允许他们在我国领海捕鱼。

10 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

11 flips   

轻弹( flip的第三人称单数 )； 按（开关）； 快速翻转； 急挥

参考例句：

• Larry flips on the TV while he is on vacation in Budapest. 赖瑞在布达佩斯渡假时，打开电视收看节目。
• He flips through a book before making a decision. 他在决定买下一本书前总要先草草翻阅一下。

12 narrative   

n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的

参考例句：

• He was a writer of great narrative power.他是一位颇有记述能力的作家。
• Neither author was very strong on narrative.两个作者都不是很善于讲故事。

13 lyrics   

n.歌词

参考例句：

• music and lyrics by Rodgers and Hart 由罗杰斯和哈特作词作曲
• The book contains lyrics and guitar tablatures for over 100 songs. 这本书有100多首歌的歌词和吉他奏法谱。

14 rape   

n.抢夺，掠夺，强奸；vt.掠夺，抢夺，强奸

参考例句：

• The rape of the countryside had a profound ravage on them.对乡村的掠夺给他们造成严重创伤。
• He was brought to court and charged with rape.他被带到法庭并被指控犯有强奸罪。

15 defiant   

adj.无礼的，挑战的

参考例句：

• With a last defiant gesture,they sang a revolutionary song as they were led away to prison.他们被带走投入监狱时，仍以最后的反抗姿态唱起了一支革命歌曲。
• He assumed a defiant attitude toward his employer.他对雇主采取挑衅的态度。

16 unwilling   

adj.不情愿的

参考例句：

• The natives were unwilling to be bent by colonial power.土著居民不愿受殖民势力的摆布。
• His tightfisted employer was unwilling to give him a raise.他那吝啬的雇主不肯给他加薪。

17 succumb   

v.屈服，屈从；死

参考例句：

• They will never succumb to the enemies.他们决不向敌人屈服。
• Will business leaders succumb to these ideas?商业领袖们会被这些观点折服吗？

18 frustration   

n.挫折，失败，失效，落空

参考例句：

• He had to fight back tears of frustration.他不得不强忍住失意的泪水。
• He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration.他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。