141. On the Ground in Ukraine

I interviewed Sviatoslav Yurash, the youngest member of parliament in Ukraine who is on the ground in Kyiv to give us an update of what's going on and background information about the war. As you guys might know I have a lot of Russian friends and my 4-year-old daughter is half Russian. We were going to be there in the summer. Russian doctors saved my dad. The original plan for this episode was to also speak to someone in the Russian government to see what the Russian governments' citizens are being told, and get that perspective. I had some negative feedback from that about giving a platform to the government of an invading country but I still plan on doing that if I can find someone who is comfortable with talking to me. It’s hard to know what’s going on without information from everyone. Today's guest is Sviatsolav Yurash. Yurash is a Ukrainian politician. He is deeply involved in the government and has been involved in the war between Russia and Ukraine for years. He was previously the Euromaidan press center organizer (which was the group that protested and eventually ousted Ukraine's pro-Russian president in 2014. Sviatoslav was the senior spokesperson for the current president Zelensky’s 2019 presidential election campaign. Sviatoslav is currently in Kyiv, and has taken up arms against the Russian military. He went into details about what it looks like on the ground there and his perspective on why there has been fighting for the last 8 years or so and why there's been an invasion. I cannot express how sorry I am about this war. It's heartbreaking. I've linked what Sviatoslav spoke about in the shownotes - if you're interested in donating there are bank accounts listed: 🇺🇦The National Bank of Ukraine has opened a special account to raise funds for the Ukrainian Army. Anyone from any country can donate. The account is multi-currency. It is open for transfers of funds from international partners and donors, any person as well as from Ukrainian businesses and citizens. 🇺🇲 For donations in USD: SWIFT Code NBU: NBUA UA UX JP MORGAN CHASE BANK, New York SWIFT Code: CHASUS33 Account: 400807238 383 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10179, USA Bank account: UA843000010000000047330992708 🇬🇧 For donations in GBP: SWIFT Code NBU: NBUA UA UX Bank of England, London SWIFT Code: BKENGB2L Account: 40000982 Threadneedle Street, London EC2R 8AH, UK Bank account: UA843000010000000047330992708 🇪🇺 For donations in EUR: SWIFT Code NBU: NBUA UA UX DEUTSCHE BUNDESBANK, Frankfurt SWIFT Code: MARKDEFF Account: 5040040066 IBAN DE05504000005040040066 Wilhelm-Epsteinn-Strabe 14, 60431 Frankfurt Am Main,Germany Bank account: UA843000010000000047330992708 🇺🇦 Для зарахування коштів у національній валюті: Банк: Національний банк України МФО 300001 Рахунок № UA843000010000000047330992708 код ЄДРПОУ 00032106 Отримувач: Національний банк України