Ukraine & Russia
Natalia Ishchenko was born in Simferopol, Crimea, when it formed part of Ukraine, within the Soviet Union. Natalia's story is a true and vivid account of her upbringing, from a child at school, to her membership of the Pioneer youth movement within the Soviet Union, and through to the tumultuous events which led to the break up of the Soviet Union itself in 1991. The trials and tribulations of the early years of Ukraine are described in first-hand detail as his her life generally, of the years between 1991 and 2014, when her life took a dramatic turn with the Russian annexation of Crimea that year. Natalia left Crimea to live in Kyiv in 2016 but had lived and worked there for just six years when, once again, her life was turned upside down following the Russian invasion in 2022. Natalia describes in detail the dramatic events that led to the invasion, and also the early weeks of the invasion, when Natalia and her husband came under fire, her desperate flight across the country to Poland and then, finally, to join her son in London. 'Ukraine, Russia and Me' is a gripping account, not only of her life, but of the politics and history of Crimea and Ukraine. We also read a fascinating and harrowing account of conditions at Chernobyl, where her surgeon husband (whose father was responsible for choosing missile sites in Cuba, prior to 1963) was sent in the days following the nuclear disaster in 1986. The politics of the years between 1960 and 2025, many details of which were unknown in the West, are described, as are the everyday effects which the often crazy decisions, made by successive politicians, had on the lives of the normal people in the Soviet Union and, later on, Ukraine. 'Ukraine, Russia and Me :A personal history of the Soviet Union, Ukraine and Russia 1960-2025.'