Nicolas Tonev, special envoy to Ukraine
On February 24, 2022, Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine. The country is therefore preparing for the first anniversary of the war, this Friday. A year of conflict which has plunged the population into a state of general fatigue in the face of the looming threat, says the special envoy of Europe 1 live from kyiv, Nicolas Tonev.
Ukraine is about to pass the milestone of the first anniversary of the war. This Friday, February 24, it will be a year since the Russian invasion began. How do Ukrainians apprehend this date? Special envoy to Ukraine for Europe 1, Nicolas Tonev says that “their state of mind evolves at the rate of news, whether good or bad”.
Bad news can come from the front, where things are rather complicated at the moment. Good news that can come from abroad with massive military aid. But what is shared by everyone here is the general fatigue. This is what tells Europe 1 Artiom, a young designer of 27 years. “Every day it feels different. Sometimes you feel broken. You don’t want anything, just for this war to end no matter what, because it’s exhausting. If you want to live your life, you’re going to travel, you want to see your future when now it’s impossible because you don’t know what tomorrow will bring.”
The ambient stress of a new offensive
So this tomorrow of which he speaks is perhaps the immediate. Because if here, in kyiv, the situation seems calm, missiles or suicide drones can arrive at any time. It is also the famous new Russian offensive which would come from the North. Some air alerts are generated by take-offs of fighter planes in Belarus for exercises, a bit like a daily repetition of this hypothetical new attack. A risk that adds to the ambient stress.