<
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/13/lukianivska-square-kyiv-most-bombed-neighbourhood-ukraine>
"On Lukianivska Square, in Kyiv’s most bombed neighbourhood, the white letters
on a busy McDonald’s have melted from a fire that engulfed a nearby shopping
centre during the last major attack, on 24 May.
Inside, however, the restaurant is busy – until an air raid alarm goes off,
sending staff and customers down the escalators of the metro next door to
shelter deep underground. The last strike collapsed a section of the metro’s
ceiling and filled the platforms with a fog of dust.
The McDonald’s has been damaged three times this year alone (a Kyiv resident
jokes that the chain’s golden arches logo has become a “symbol of resistance”).
On heat maps showing the frequency of air raids in Kyiv, the area around
Lukianivska Square and the wider area of Shevchenkivskyi stand out for the
concentration of strikes over the past four years.
Local residents say the situation has only got worse in recent months. In a
large and sprawling city where evidence of war damage is swallowed up, this
corner of Kyiv looks more like a scene from far closer to the frontlines.
The ostensible reason why is located across the busy street from the metro
entrance: the long, red, shattered facade of the gutted Artem plant, once a
weapons factory, now largely ruined and partly covered with a huge mural.
The recent massive strikes, however, have hit civilian structures. A glass
tower that looms like a ship’s prow over the street is without many of its
windows. A pair of burnt-out cars sit by the kerb. The entrance hall of the
metro, which has been hit five times, is boarded in large areas, while
passersby pause to look up at a scorched and eviscerated building."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
