'We cannot allow Putin steal our Christmas': Ukraine shows faith and defiance in the face of fear

Kyiv's mayor has insisted on putting up the city's Christmas tree this year and POLINA BASHKINA hears from families preparing to celebrate even amid the Russian bombardment

A weeping woman is comforted by a Ukraine Red Cross worker after a Russian missile attack in Kryvyi Rih last Friday. Despite the deaths, the power cuts, and other privations, Ukrainians are determined to make the best Christmas that they can. Picture: Evgeniy Maloletka/AP

"With candles and a power bank. And also with barbecues. Because you can’t cook on electric stoves now.” That is how Olena Mishchenko answers when asked how she will celebrate the new year.

While people all over the world are looking forward to what will be the most ‘normal’ Christmas they have experienced since before the pandemic, for millions in Ukraine, that reality is even further away than many ever imagined.

But, while recent power outages have entirely changed the lives of Ukrainians, the nation will not deny itself a holiday or allow their enemy to taunt and mock them.

“So the Russians were happy that they took away our new year, how they are happy now depriving [us of] our light and heat? No, we will not give in to them,” says Serhiy Zaitsev.

Kyiv families gather at the Christmas tree in Sofiyska Square despite the Russian attacks. One resident, Ksenia Zakharova, said she supported the decorations going up 'because the whole world should know that we live'. Picture: Maxym Marusenko/NurPhoto/Shutterstock

Valery Kotsyuba laughs and says: “We haven’t put away the Christmas tree since last year!”

“We wanted to extend the new year holiday. And then February 24 happened. Priorities changed dramatically. No one pays attention to the Christmas tree when you hear explosions and have only a couple of hours to go away.

“So, when I returned in the summer, I just removed the decorations [the Christmas tree is artificial] and moved it to a corner. Now I’ll dress it again.”

Oleksandra Arakelyan says: “During the Russian attack on November 23, my daughter asked: ‘Mom, are we being bombed?’ She’s afraid of sirens. She was terrified.

“Starting from October, during air raid alarms, we sleep in the corridor. And so do many children throughout Ukraine. 

But children should have a childhood. They need a holiday and faith in miracles. That’s why we will celebrate.

Yuliya Belkova says she will be at home, but won’t celebrate the festivities.

“There will be no Christmas tree and traditional Olivier salad, and not because there is no light or it’s expensive — we don’t have the desire this year,” she says.

Life goes on for families in a Kyiv playground near a building damaged by Russian missiles last week. Even amid the continued shelling, there is a broad welcome for the capital’s Christmas tree. Picture: Evgeniy Maloletka/AP

“The children have grown up. No one expects a miracle,” she admits.

Nataliya Prokopchuk is optimistic and will even try to get to the play, The Nutcracker, on New Year’s Eve, as she does yearly.

“And we’ll try to organise Christmas with a new date at home for the first time [since 2022, Ukraine began to celebrate Christmas according to the Gregorian, not Julian calendar].

“I admire the aesthetics of European decorating, and I’ll try to put it into practice on December 24-25. Then, I’ll traditionally go to my grandmother on January 6, according to the old style.

“It will be difficult for them to get used to the new dates, and she is very much looking forward to her grandchildren.”

Svitlana Nikiforova lost her brother in the war. She says: “We plan to celebrate at home, regardless of whether it will be light and warm.

“We have six cats and a dog. So we’ll warm up even if there is no heating again.”

Some of those who have left Ukraine will try to celebrate by contacting those at home.

Police chaplain Leonid offers tangerines and apples to residents in the basement of their apartment block, now used as a bomb shelter, in Avdiivka, Donetsk.  Picture: Libkos/AP 

“I will celebrate on Viber with my family because I left for Germany,” says Natalia Gabrilchuk. “I’ll make the same wish that everyone has at the moment.”

Natalia’s 86-year-old father, Mykhailo Gabrilchuk, stayed in Ukraine. He says: “When there is no heating, water or electricity in the houses, it’s not the holidays. My daughter told me to put the garland which is used to decorate Christmas trees in a jar — now we have an economical lamp for the time when the electricity is off.

“This is how we prepare for the new year — with battery-powered garlands instead of lights. We hope that on New Year’s Eve, there will be heating and electricity, and it will be possible to watch the news and talk on the phone with relatives.

“But we consider spending electricity on a Christmas tree in the city inappropriate. The city should take care of those who suffer, and it’s better to give them a little more time with the light.”

Nataliya Rets agrees, adding: “I am against Christmas trees in the central squares because it’s a great target for our crazy neighbour,”

Olga Rossokha says: “I believe that the Russians can use a crowd of people for a missile attack, and there will be many victims.”

A Christmas tree was set up in Bucha, Kyiv suburb that survived the horrors of Russian occupation this year.

Before installing it, Bucha residents were polled about this. Most of them were in favor of the tree.

They deserve it! pic.twitter.com/c38hUDRItZ

— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) December 12, 2022

Yulia Kukosh, who won’t go with her daughter to the capital’s central square this year concurs: “If a rocket falls, you can’t hide near a Christmas tree.”

An indignant Alyona Koroleva asks: “What Christmas tree? In recent weeks, people with electric stoves cannot cook!”

“The soldiers are freezing in the trenches, and we have a holiday?

"Those who went abroad may be in the holiday mood, but here every day is New Year’s Eve [the sound of rocket explosions resembles New Year’s fireworks].”

Kiev's 2022 tree sparked heated debate when it was first mooted last month. Many expressed concern at using precious energy but most citizens now say they are happy that its energy-efficient lights are powered by a generator provided by local sponsors which will be donated to the military after Christmas. Picture: Sergei Supinsky/AFP/Getty 

However, Ksenia Zakharova disagrees: “I’m in favour of the Christmas tree, but being energy-responsible — on solar batteries or a generator. Because we are unbreakable, we pay taxes, because the whole world should know that we live.”

Anastasia Ukrayinka says: “I’m in favour, too — but energy-saving.

This Christmas tree should be a symbol and broadcast our message to the world.

“For example, during the Euromaidan [the uprising that started in 2013 named for ‘maidan’ meaning town square]. In 2014, our Christmas tree was unique, with flags and posters — a rally Christmas tree.

“I’m confident we can create something unusual this year to impress the whole world and remind us of who we are.

“We are a proud, engaging, authentic, and indomitable nation which creates art even in such a situation.”

Kyiv's Christmas 2002 tree is far more modest than previous years such 2004's. One resident says: 'Children should have a childhood. They need a holiday and faith in miracles. That’s why we will celebrate.' File picture: Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP

Nataliya Repyakh is worried though: “The main thing is not to bomb hospitals and residential buildings, at least on new year’s...”

Oleksandra Arakelyan says: “I imagine my family together at the festive table. We’re celebrating the victory. But these are my dreams, and this year it’ll not be like that. However, I know for sure that the next new year, it will come true,”

Elsewhere, a Ukrainian mother asks her son, “Mykola, what gift do you want for the new year?”

He replies: “Mom, the war is in the country. What a gift! Let these Russian fascists go away from here.”

His 13-year-old sister Olya supports him: “Imagine Russia capitulating on December 31. There will be a double holiday in Ukraine.”

Mykola says: “And maybe the vacation will be longer.”

Then both say together: “And the lights will stop turning off!”

The celebrations in Kyiv will take place, but without mass gatherings of people, according to the mayor of Kyiv, Vitaliy Klychko.

Kharkiv usually puts up a spectacular tree in a public square but this year the Ukrainian city's official tree has been set up underground, in a central metro station. File picture

“No one is going to cancel the New Year and Christmas, and the atmosphere of the New Year should be there,” he said. “We cannot allow Putin to steal our Christmas.

“The Christmas tree will be provided by [business sponsors and] patrons,” he said. “It will be 12m high, decorated with energy-saving garlands powered by a generator. Charging points for devices will be available from this generator. The generator will be handed over to the military at the end of the holidays.”

The tree features yellow and blue lights and 500 white doves.

“The Christmas tree top will be decorated with the Ukrainian coat of arms,” he said. “The lower part will be decorated with stands with the flags of countries that help us cope with the challenges and consequences of the war.”