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By Jeffrey Gettleman
Photographs through Laura Boushnak
KYIV, Ukraine – The rave had been planned for weeks, with the area and DJ, drinks, invitations and security all covered.
But after a recent missile attack from the front killed more than 25 people, including children, in central Ukraine, an attack that deeply destabilized all of Ukraine, raves organizers came together to make a difficult last-minute decision. Should they postpone the party?
They decided: no way.
“This is precisely what the Russians want,” said Dmytro Vasylkov, one of the organizers.
So they installed huge speakers, blew up the air conditioning, and covered the windows of a cavernous room with thick black curtains. Then they opened the doors of an old silk factory in kyiv’s commercial district.
And as if giving the order, the room is filled with young people in striped shirts and young people in tight black dresses, all moving as if in a trance, in front, almost like in the church, the D. J. the altar.
It is dark, sweaty, noisy and wonderful. It was a country locked in a war that affected everyone in the room, but even so, they danced with all their hearts.
“If you know how to use it, this is the cure,” said one raver, Oleksii Pidhoretskii, a boy who lives with his grandmother and hadn’t dated in months.
After a silence, Kyiv’s nightlife returns.
Many other people are venturing outdoors for the first time since the beginning of the war. To drink across the river. Meet a friend. Sit at a bar and drink a cocktail. Or three.
It is a village full of young others locked up for two years, first because of Covid and then because of the war with Russia. They aspire to contact. War makes this momentum even greater, especially in this war, where a Russian cruise missile can reach you, anywhere and anytime.
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