Jen Stout

Romania has been a member of Nato for eighteen years and an attack here would start a spiralling, catastrophic war. But such logic is not as reassuring as it once was. In the days before the invasion, even as the US issued dire warnings, the general feeling – from Moscow to Kyiv, Tallinn to Bucharest – was that an all-out attack on major Ukrainian cities was impossible. On the morning of 24 February, we all woke up feeling stupid.

At impromptu gigs to raise money for the battalions, in aid distribution centres and in soup kitchens, ideological differences have largely melted away. People with wildly different political views find themselves working side by side. In an underground bunker kitted out as a music studio, Serhiy Zhadan, in a black leather jacket, read poetry and bands played folk songs, all livestreamed to a party in Berlin. The event raised about £1000.