Diana Berg

Ukrainian writer and activist Diana Berg describes going curtain shopping in Kyiv while an air raid was underway. She rejects the framing that such everyday behaviour proves Ukrainians are 'resilient', arguing that people carry on with ordinary errands during attacks out of necessity and routine, not inspiration. The essay pushes back against Western clichés about life under Russian bombardment.

Ukrainian writer and activist Diana Berg describes going curtain shopping in Kyiv while air raid sirens sounded, in a first-person essay. She pushes back against the popular framing of such ordinary acts as 'resilience', arguing that daily routines under Russian attacks are a matter of necessity and survival rather than admiration-worthy heroism. The piece offers a blunt look at how Ukrainians live under constant threat.