On a brief visit to London, the Ukrainian novelist talks about why he has no intention of leaving his country – or ever again visiting Russia – his mixed feelings about Zelenskiy, and how he is still keeping his sense of humour
Even newly arrived in London, 1,300 miles away from Ukraine, Andrey Kurkov feels as if he’s in a war zone. His phone – its settings still monitoring the location west of Kyiv where he is based – buzzes constantly with warnings of air raids. Ukrainians have all downloaded these apps. The font and design are the same as our Covid apps. Over the course of our hour-long meeting, a siren blares out three times. How do you get used to that?
He shrugs. “The main thing is that you are tired all the time. Everyone is sleeping badly. Sirens are going off five times a night. You don’t necessarily have to get up and leave the house when that happens. But you wake up and fall asleep constantly and try to decide whether you should leave the house …”
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