Ukraine (Patreon)

Almost four years ago, two weeks before February 24th, I was standing in line for my flight to Kyiv. At the gate, it turned out that suddenly extra documents were required; the Russian army was already at the border of Ukraine at that point, and according to the airport staff, the entry procedure had become stricter. A crew member hastily showed me a stack of papers in Cyrillic. I barely understood any of it, but I did realize that my flight to Ukraine would be leaving without me. 

Ukraine is a country with a Soviet past: gigantic factories, high brutalist residentials, countless bunkers, and an extensive, cleverly engineered railway network. When the Soviet Union collapsed, much of that industry fell into decay. Enormous factory complexes stood abandoned, bunkers built for a war with the West became useless, and what remained was a vast amount of derelict infrastructure. That environment, combined with a touch of Eastern European madness and relatively light consequences if you got caught, created the perfect atmosphere for urban exploring. That’s why Ukraine has long been highly regarded in the urbex scene, a prime destination for the things I love to do. 

Two weeks after I was denied boarding, the Russians invaded. That, of course, changed everything. I followed the conflict from a distance, waiting to see how it would unfold. The main reason I stayed away from Ukraine was my conviction that urbex there had become very hard. Suspicious behavior near a rail yard, crawling through tunnels beneath the city, climbing onto rooftops where soldiers were stationed with MANPADS or machine guns ready to shoot down missiles - the risk of being mistaken for a saboteur or spy was simply too high. So I waited. A few years later, normal life in Ukraine continues. Or at least, as much as you can call it “normal life.” People have adapted to living in a state of war: the constant threat,the economic challenges, the grief they push into a small corner... And also urbex continues. In fact, a new generation has emerged. Young people who grew up partly during the war and who see urbex as a form of escapism from that harsh reality. 

A few weeks ago, I decided to go to Ukraine with Shiey and Matt, traveling by car. We didn’t really have a plan; we just wanted to see the country. For Matt and Shiey, it was nostalgia, they had been there countless times before and for me, it was pure curiosity, finally going on the trip I was supposed to take almost four years ago. We intended to take it slow and focus more on tourism than on urbex. Well, that plan didn’t last long. Once we met the first local, we went from one mission straight into the next. 

I ended up with so much footage that it’s hard to cut everything into one coherent video, since we did so many different things. So I think I’ll make two separate urbex videos and one larger video about the journey itself. The first one should be coming out somewhere next week!