Resistance, escape, hope Flowers in dark times - Kiev defies the hardships of war
Hearty: A woman swings in Dobro Park in the village of Motyshyn in the Kiev region on June 26, 2024.
Image: KEYSTONE
This tank made of grass adorns Kiev just as much...
Image: KEYSTONE
... like this colorful tractor.
Image: KEYSTONE
A ray of hope in dark times: A woman buys flowers in Kiev on June 25.
Image: KEYSTONE
Flowers and flags commemorate fallen soldiers in the capital.
Image: KEYSTONE
Flowers at the entrance to Dobro Park in Motyshyn.
Image: KEYSTONE
A boy runs through a field of lavender in Dobro Park.
Image: KEYSTONE
This is a good opportunity for mothers and AP photographers alike to take a good picture.
Image: KEYSTONE
A girl uses a flag to protect herself from the sun: Dobro Park is a 150-hectare garden that was affected by the war and has been restored.
Image: KEYSTONE
"The entire area was occupied by the Russian military," explains Olha Lyhvar, the park's landscape designer.
Image: KEYSTONE
Hearty: A woman swings in Dobro Park in the village of Motyshyn in the Kiev region on June 26, 2024.
Image: KEYSTONE
This tank made of grass adorns Kiev just as much...
Image: KEYSTONE
... like this colorful tractor.
Image: KEYSTONE
A ray of hope in dark times: A woman buys flowers in Kiev on June 25.
Image: KEYSTONE
Flowers and flags commemorate fallen soldiers in the capital.
Image: KEYSTONE
Flowers at the entrance to Dobro Park in Motyshyn.
Image: KEYSTONE
A boy runs through a field of lavender in Dobro Park.
Image: KEYSTONE
This is a good opportunity for mothers and AP photographers alike to take a good picture.
Image: KEYSTONE
A girl uses a flag to protect herself from the sun: Dobro Park is a 150-hectare garden that was affected by the war and has been restored.
Image: KEYSTONE
"The entire area was occupied by the Russian military," explains Olha Lyhvar, the park's landscape designer.
Image: KEYSTONE
Despite all the hardships of war, flowers line the streets of Kiev and other Ukrainian cities, and florists' business is booming. The flowers stand not only for tradition, but also for resistance and hope.
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- Flowers play a major role in Ukrainian culture, but they have grown even more since the beginning of the war.
- They are seen as a symbol of resistance as well as of hope and healing.
- Soldiers order flowers online and have them sent to their families.
- Flowers serve as an escape from the horrors of the bombings
Olexander Trifonov makes a stop on his way to the train station in Kiev. In a dimly lit underpass, he buys two red roses from a flower stand for his wife and daughter, who are returning to Ukraine by train from Poland.
"I haven't seen them for two years," says the 45-year-old about the two most important people in his life. "Flowers are important for women."
Flowers have always played a major role in Ukrainian culture. But since the start of the Russian war of aggression in 2022, their importance has grown even further. The flowers have become a symbol of resistance as well as of hope and healing.
Despite all the hardships caused by the war - or perhaps even because of it - Ukrainians take every opportunity to decorate the capital Kiev and other cities with flowers from the countryside. For many, they represent a connection to their roots.
Soldiers buy flowers online
Deep purple petunias and yellow rock roses sprout from planters lining the side and main streets of Kiev. Flowers are also attached to lampposts, and even the country's prison yards are in bloom. Flowers adorn Ukrainian banknotes, textile patterns and murals - alongside advertising boards and army recruitment posters.
All over the country, young men bring bouquets of flowers to appointments and soldiers bring them home. In 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky presented a bouquet to a young woman during a hospital visit. The girl had been injured while fleeing from Russian troops outside Kiev.
Olha Seminog sells bouquets of flowers for the equivalent of 2.20 francs each at a stall in an underpass. If you can afford it, you can also get a large bouquet from her for the equivalent of 68 francs. Even in times of war, her best-selling day is March 8 - International Women's Day, says Seminog. Her online business has also picked up, as many soldiers have flowers sent home.
"Life can't be bright without flowers"
On the outskirts of Kiev, where the Russian advance was halted two years ago, residents are still tending the gardens of their damaged or destroyed homes. In a park in the capital near Dnipro, a large flower installation welcomes the F-16 fighter jets expected to arrive from Ukraine's Western allies this summer.
Flowers are inextricably linked to culture, traditions and important holidays in Ukraine and have great emotional significance, explains Irina Bielobrova, Chairwoman of the Ukrainian Florists Association. "Life cannot be bright, full and rich without flowers," she says. "Wreaths of flowers are kept for years and embroidered blouses are passed on to younger generations."
After the war began, Bielobrova fled to the Netherlands, the country with the largest flower production in the world. In comparison, Ukraine had a modest export market before the war.
Fleeing the horrors of the bombing raids
In the Netherlands, Bielobrova joined forces with other refugee florists to ensure that flowers were available at all solidarity events for Ukraine in European capitals.
The sunflower, which has been growing in Ukraine since the 18th century, has become the country's national flower - a symbol of resistance during the war. Fields of the shoulder-high plant can be seen all over Ukraine, and Zelensky's cabinet declared the sunflower the symbol of the national day of mourning in 2020.
Flowers offer an escape from the horrors of the bombings, the destruction, the pain and the tears, says Bielobrova, who has since returned to Kiev from the Netherlands. "Emotions are easy to express with flowers. Each flower speaks for itself, and together in a bouquet they tell a whole story."
By Derek Gatopoulos and Anton Shtuka, AP/phi
