What A Day - Life As A Ukrainian Refugee, Part II

Episode Date: March 30, 2022

Over 3.9 million people have fled Ukraine and become refugees since the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine war, according to the United Nations. About 2.3 million of those people have gone to neighboring Poland, and another 600,000 people have crossed into neighboring Romania. Julia Pashkovska, a mother who left her home in central Ukraine, joins us to discuss her experience fleeing the country.And in headlines: A Palestinian gunman killed 5 people in Tel Aviv, the FDA approved a second booster dose of Pfizer’s and Moderna’s COVID vaccines for older adults, and the House Jan. 6 committee found a 7.5 hour gap in former President Donald Trump’s phone logs from the day of the insurrection.Show Notes:Ukrainian Congress Committee of America – https://www.mightycause.com/story/M1wzpfHumanitarian Aid to Ukraine – https://bit.ly/36WSK40American Red Cross – https://rdcrss.org/3vT4qPOPolish Humanitarian Action: SOS Ukraine – https://www.pah.org.pl/en/Association for Legal Intervention – https://interwencjaprawna.pl/en/get-involved/donate/Follow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/whataday/For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday

It's Wednesday, March 30th. I'm Gideon Resnick. And I'm Priyanka Arabindi. And this is What A Day, where we can finally go back to our normal lives now that the American trucker convoy is over. Yes, for some people, it wasn't disruptive, but we took it really hard because of the five trucks that were in Washington, D.C. True healing cannot be rushed. So please respect our privacy during this trying time.

On today's show, the FDA approves another COVID booster dose for some Americans. Plus, the Trump White House is missing almost eight hours of phone records from the day of the insurrection. Where could they have gone? But first, let's start with the peace talks between Russia and Ukraine that continued on Tuesday. Over a month into this war, it certainly felt like there was progress in the conversation. So Gideon, what happened here? A lot, apparently, Priyanka. So after about three hours of negotiations in Turkey, here's where things stand as we go to record at 9.30 Eastern on Tuesday night. So let's start with Ukraine.

Ukrainian officials said that they would commit to being permanently neutral, i.e. they would not seek to join NATO. And that had been a really big demand from Russia before all of this began. And in exchange for that, they were talking about a kind of security system should the country be attacked in the future, whereby other nations like the US, Germany, Turkey, and others would provide military assistance. Now, one important thing about that is we don't know whether any of those countries have agreed to that idea in principle just yet. So then there was the territory side of all of these talks. So Ukraine offered up this 15-year timeline for negotiations over Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014. The New York Times reported that the eastern Donbass region that we've talked about

quite a bit on this show could be up for further discussion in a later conversation, actually between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Okay, those seem like some pretty big potential concessions. Is that actually in the cards? What else is Russia proposing here? The meeting itself definitely seems like it might be in the cards. It certainly seems more likely after yesterday's events, for sure. Now, from the Russian side of things, their substantive contribution was saying that the country would, quote, drastically reduce its military actions around the cities of Kiev and Chernihiv in an effort to, quote, increase mutual trust and create conditions for further negotiations. So Zelensky and President Biden viewed these promises a little

warily, with Biden saying in part, quote, we'll see if they follow through with what they are suggesting. Right. It is possible also, observers have been saying, that Russia is more prepared to negotiate at this point because of resistance from Ukrainian forces, that they might have been pushed into this position. The New York Times reported that a member of the Ukrainian delegation said that it would take two weeks or more to iron out more details with Russia and the other countries who could possibly be involved in this. Turkey has said that it will continue to act as an intermediary here, a whole other interesting subplot to this. So we'll hold out hope and keep following all of that. But now Priyanka, fill us in on some updates on the ground in Ukraine. Of course. So during his nightly address on Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said

that despite positive negotiations during their peace talks, quote, these signals do not silence the explosion of Russian shells. Russia's military strikes and Ukraine's counteroffensive have continued across the country. In the southern city of Mikoyev, at least nine people were killed and another 28 were injured after a strike on a regional government building. Yeah, and as we talk about all the violence, there is this video that has been circulating over the past few days of soldiers in Ukraine allegedly shooting Russian prisoners of war near the Kharkiv region. What more do we

know about that? Yeah, so this video was posted online on Sunday, and it shows that, as you were saying, Russian prisoners of war were being shot in their legs by what appears to be Ukrainian soldiers based on the colors of the armbands that they're wearing. Wow. The video has been circulating on social media and pro-Russian media channels. Its location in the Kharkiv region was traced by an open source researcher and confirmed by The Washington Post. Some Ukrainian officials have dismissed the video as Russian propaganda, but an advisor to President Zelensky said on Sunday that they will investigate and that if the video is found to be credible, Ukraine will punish the people who are responsible. I would imagine. So yeah, it seems very disturbing. So as this invasion continues,

more and more Ukrainians continue to be displaced from their homes. How many people have left so far? Yeah. According to the United Nations, as of now, over 3.9 many people have left so far? Yeah, according to the United Nations, as of now, over 3.9 million people have fled Ukraine and become refugees since the beginning of this war. 2.3 million of those people have gone to neighboring Poland, and another 600,000 people have crossed into Romania, which also neighbors Ukraine. As part of a series we're doing here at What A Day, we have been speaking to some of the refugees. Earlier, I spoke with Julia Pashkovska.

She is an environmental activist, a photographer, and a mother who left her home in Poltava, which is in central Ukraine, with her nine-year-old daughter to flee to Estonia. I started by asking her what it felt like to leave her home and how she decided to do so. Oh, it was actually a very, very hard decision. I think one of the hardest in my life was I love Ukraine and I love my city, but I also have a small daughter as we are very close to Kharkiv and, you know, our sky is not closed yet in Ukraine. So they could start to bomb any city in Ukraine. So this is a huge problem. So I need to take my daughter to bring her to a more safe place. And I talked with my psychologist and she told me, you know, Julia, I know how your decision is hard for you. It's heartbreaking, actually. But now we need to save our children.

Yeah, I want to ask you more about your daughter. How did you tell her what's going on? How did you explain that you're leaving your home? She's nine years old. So of course, she understands everything. And she knew from the first day that war had started. actually you never can believe in such news of course there was a lot of talks about that oh yes Russia gonna gonna attack Ukraine but you still cannot believe until the last second and my daughter she was first day I start to worry very much, even maybe panic a little bit. She was not panicking, but she was sad and she was worrying what is going on, actually. So I told her, you know, sweetie, unfortunately, war has started. So we are in type of danger. But of course, when you're with me, you are safe and everything and everything.

And next few weeks we just tried to find some balance it was very hard because every day alarm few times per day you need to stay in corridor or in bomb shelter and it was also emotionally hard for sure wow what were the ways over the past few weeks that you've been able to stay, you know, mentally okay, psychologically okay? I imagine this is just like an incredibly difficult situation, as you're saying. Yes, I think adrenaline helped us very much. There was no place for panic and disappointment, for crying even. Maybe only on the third day, I really started to cry.

I was very tired emotionally, so probably cried a few hours. And then it becomes much better. The hardest time started when I flee Ukraine, when I flee my home. You take your roots and you bring yourself to another country, but you don't want to put you with your roots in the ground in this country because you want to come back home, you know? Yeah. I want to ask you a little more about, you know, leaving. Now you're in Estonia. What did you have to do to get there?

How long did you have to pack up your things? How did you decide, you know, what now you're in Estonia. What did you have to do to get there? How long did you have to pack up your things? How did you decide, you know, what you take, what you leave? So I always had my documents, all our documents with me, power bank and mobile phone and the laptop and my camera. So all my life, you know, I had with me in my backpack always and then we stayed in our home and we thought that it's a safe place but then when we decided to leave country I packed all things just in one bag it was not a huge bag actually just maybe a few dresses for me a few dresses for her and you know why do not buy a lot of things here do not spend a lot of money because we do not know now how everything will go and for how many time we will stay here when I will have enough job

because life in Estonia quite more expensive than in Ukraine you're obviously a mother you're also a photographer you're a climate activist how do all of those aspects of who you are kind of changed how you see the war and how you have been processing all of it? Now we are concentrated on how to support people, how to support affected people, how to make any affordable humanitarian aid or what we can do for food security of communities. So we are mostly concentrated what we can do for food security of communities. So we're mostly concentrated what we can do for our country to get victory in this war. Right. Now that you're away from Ukraine and you're not trying to make a plan all the time to get out necessarily or be safe, do you have more time to process what's going on? Or are you still

kind of in that adrenaline response state and feel that way? Only now I do not hear air alarm. There was some phantom sounds from time to time. I hear it in sounds of some plane. I also started to think, oh my God, this is a plane which will bomb us. It's strange psychological reaction. Right. It's still with you. Yes, yes, yes. Now it is not.

After a week here in safety, so every night I have safe night. I do not need to wake up because of air alarm. So I'm starting now to recharge. I'm starting now to put more of my efforts to our teamwork for fundraising, for example, for supporting communities. I am a very privileged person because I have very good friends and they hosted me here. I do not need to stay somewhere in a refugee camp as hundreds of thousands of people are staying now.

A lot of people are in very camp as hundreds of thousands of people are staying now. A lot of people are in very complicated conditions now. I always trying to remember about it. And we're just waiting when all this madness will stop truly because so many people are dying in Ukraine. That was my chat with Ukrainian refugee Julia Peshkovska last week. We're going to put some ways our listeners can help people like her in our show notes. That is the latest for now. Let's get to some headlines. A Palestinian gunman opened fire on passersby in an ultra-orthodox suburb of Tel Aviv Tuesday night, killing five.

Police shot and killed the gunman as well. And while Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the attack, Hamas praised it, though the group did not take responsibility. It is the fifth attack in Israel in less than two weeks, in which 11 people total have died. And today, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is holding an emergency security meeting out of concern that violence will ramp up in the coming days and weeks. That is when three important religious holidays, Ramadan, Passover, and Easter will overlap. And there is a fear that clashes will break out between worshipers. This most recent attack also comes days after Israel held historic diplomatic talks with several Arab countries,

talks that notably Palestinians were not invited to, nor were a major focus of conversation. That is really awful news. I hope those fears do not come true. The FDA approved a second booster dose of Pfizer's and Moderna's COVID vaccines for adults who are 50 and older yesterday, along with a third booster shot for immunocompromised folks ages 12 and up. The move comes after the CDC updated its vaccine guidance on both demographics, saying they're, quote, the most likely to benefit from receiving an additional booster dose at this time.

Both booster shots are expected to be available starting today, so book an appointment for yourself if you're eligible, otherwise your parents, your elderly mentors, grandparents, anyone who could possibly use your help scheduling one online. These extra jabs come just in time to fight another COVID variant. Yesterday, the CDC said the Omicron BA2 variant, the same one that's currently tearing through Europe and China, is now the dominant strain of COVID-19 in the U.S. According to officials, big bad BA.2 accounts for more than half of the new COVID cases in America. And the region with the most BA.2 cases is in the Northeast,

particularly New York and New Jersey, which is great news for me and Gideon, who are recording this live from New York City. More like BA. Boo. Get the hell out of here. We're done with you. You know that people haven't tried insulting the coronavirus yet to get it to stop infecting people. And that's my method. It's scientific. Much like a lovesick teen from 20 years ago,

Trump does not want us snooping on him while he's on the phone. Can't imagine why. Cannot imagine. After reviewing White House records from January 6th, the House Select Committee investigating the insurrection

has found a seven and a half hour gap in former President Donald Trump's phone logs. According to these records from the National Archives, which returned over to the committee earlier this year, Trump somehow did not make or receive any calls in his office between 11.17 a.m. and 6.54 p.m. Called a mental health break. He took a walk.

He put down his phone for a while, got the screen time down. It makes perfect sense. Yeah, he was trying to get his daily average down. And honestly, who can blame him? This mysterious gap conveniently overlaps with the time period in which rioters were violently forcing their way into the Capitol that day. The gap also contradicts recent reports of calls the former president had with his allies

on January 6th, including confirmed chats with Republican Senators Mike Lee and Tommy Tuberville, as well as House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. The seemingly incomplete call log has prompted the House committee to investigate whether the former president was using other forms of communication on January 6th, like a burner phone, or, you know, maybe yelling into a banana in a fit of panic that was so extreme his allies could hear him from miles away. That banana notably does not come with the Diet Coke button. The committee itself hasn't officially commented on the matter. However, one of its members anonymously told The Washington Post

that it is investigating a, quote, possible cover up of the records in question. Also, in January 6th news, former White House senior advisor Jared Kushner and my personal sleep paralysis demon is expected to speak with the House committee this week, according to ABC News. We're predicting that he will use his star power and charisma to make the whole investigation go away. If he follows through, Kushner would be the highest ranking member of Trump's team to sit for an interview thus far. I don't know if I've heard him speak ever. It's interesting. You should spend some time after this. I don't know if I've heard him speak ever. It's interesting. You should spend some time after this. I don't know if I need to look that up.

No, I think you do. For your own personal knowledge. There's an old saying that goes, don't believe everything you read, but do repeat everything you read if you are a lawmaker in Nebraska and you have a Fox News related brain parasite. Nebraska State Senator Bruce Bostelman

was following that guidance on Monday when he said this on the floor of the state house. If you don't know what furries are, it's where school children dress up as animals, cats or dogs during the school day. They meow and they bark and they interact with their school, with the teachers and that in this fashion. And now schools are wanting to put litter boxes in the schools for these children to use. How is this sanitary? I agree. It would, you know, if somebody was bringing in a litter box, I would have a lot of questions. So, you know, he's just asking questions, of course. God, Fosserman isn't the first Republican official to call attention to

this very obviously made-up problem. Rumors of children meowing and litter boxes in schools have been circulating since last December among luminaries like the co-chair of the Michigan Republican Party and often on the platform that is the litter box of the Internet, Facebook, by the one and only Meta. Numerous school boards have had to debunk these flare-ups of furry panic, which is clearly related to conservative efforts throughout the country to police children's gender identities and more. For his part, Senator Bosselman issued a retraction hours after making his initial statement on Monday. He said, quote,

It was just something I felt that if this was really happening, we needed to address it and address it quickly. Which makes you wonder, what if, hypothetically, there were problems the people people of Nebraska were running into that didn't seem like they were designed in a lab to upset Tucker Carlson? What would happen then? I don't know. I also wonder what you do to address it quickly. You're like, well, I guess we gotta get a lot of cat litter scoops for the classes or something. He didn't quite get to the solution part, I will say. We'd love to know what the plan was. What was he cooking up? If anyone could get that information to us, we'd love to see it. Bruce Bosselman is personally scooping the poop.

That's what we're just going to assume until given additional information. Those are the headlines. We're going to be back after some ads with a meditation on the best movie to ever combine aerial combat and beach volleyball, Top Gun. It's Wednesday, Wild Squad, and today we're discussing a trailer that dropped yesterday for the sequel to a movie that changed the way we look at men in white t-shirts and light-colored jeans. Good morning, aviators. This is your captain speaking.

Then we're off. Oh, hell yeah. That was a clip from Top Gun 2 Maverick, which comes out on May 27th after nearly two years of pandemic-related delays. This movie might be a two-hour-long ad for war. According

to Gideon, probably going to be closer to three, I would think. I imagine. I have a guess. Yeah. But despite that, our excitement for it is truly exploding into the danger zone. That is because the first film had such a huge impact on so many people. One of those people was Joni Marine,

the mom of our beloved associate producer Jazzy Marine. You could say that the movie changed both her and Jazzy's life. And to explain why, we wanted to share a clip of Joni talking about her experience of watching Top Gun. It's a moving ode to the power of movies and the power of Tom Cruise in a bomber jacket. It was the summer of 1986, and I was engaged to get married to a guy named Guy. And I went to see the movie Top Gun. And all I remember is that scene

where he's driving on his motorcycle and the sun is beginning to set and he jumps off his motorcycle and he runs to Kelly McGillis and he gives her this big kiss. And I thought, whoa, I need more passion in in my life and that's what changed my life i canceled my engagement and the rest is history wow oh my god wow wow joni also besides the point if i may call her joni mrs marine remarkable storyteller as well that was told beautifully

well here to discuss this clip with us is Jazzy Maverick Marine herself. Jazzy, welcome. Hey, guys. How did you feel hearing that? The same as we felt? Yeah. I mean, honestly, I think it was pretty badass of my mom to cancel her wedding. And she and I don't have a really good relationship.

I think she found the passion. I don't know. So I'm pretty grateful for it. And yeah, it's pretty crazy. It's amazing. Do you feel when you look back on everything that you kind of owe your life to Top Gun? Oh, yeah, for sure. I mean, when I tell people that I'm here because of Top Gun, they're pretty confused. But you know, it's a really good conversation starter. They ask a lot of questions. You said it today in our meeting. And we you know, it's a really good conversation starter. They ask a lot of questions.

You said it today in our meeting, and we were like, what? Like, say more. Yeah. I know. And then we all break out into song and take my breath away. And yeah. So you have to be going to see this when it hits theaters, right? More importantly, is your mom going to see it?

Yes. I think that we should do a WAD Marine family outing sponsored by Crooked Media. A hundred percent. I think we should all get like pretty into it, maybe dress up, wear some aviator glasses, some leather jackets, some uniforms. I don't know. I think it could be really fun. Oh yeah. No question. No question. Incredible. We're doing it. Can't wait. Thank you to Joni Marine for sharing her story with us, to Jazzy for being here and for being born. Don't know about you all, but I feel the need for speed. Hell yeah.

That is all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, take the highway to the danger zone, and tell your friends to listen. And if you're into reading and not just heavily redacted call logs like me, What A Day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at crooked.com slash subscribe. I'm Priyanka Arabindi. I'm Gideon Resnick.

And you can relax. The convoy is over. The trucks are back in their truck houses and they're loving life. Everyone can chill out now. We can go back to normal. You can drive in beautiful Washington, D.C. again. You got to find a different excuse. If you're late to work, if you're late to something, can't blame it on them anymore.

Sorry. Right. The metro, I guess, is the fallback. Yeah, sure. Okay. What a Day is a production of Crooked Media. It's recorded and mixed by Bill Lance. Jazzy Marine and Raven Yamamoto are our associate producers.

Our head writer is John Milstein, and our executive producers are Leo Duran and me, Gideon Resnick. Our theme music is by Colin Gileard and Kashaka.