The Cold War – Redux (Duplicity). Ukraine Part 4.

I have recently written the first of two novels in my latest Apocalyptic series, ‘Force Majeure – Purgatory’ and ‘Force Majeure – Paralysis’. The third in the series will be out mid next year. Prior to these two books, I wrote a Cold War trilogy, The Red Effect, The Black Effect and The Blue Effect, portraying what I believe could have happened in the 1980’s, had the Soviets, and the Warsaw Pact, taken the decision to attack West Germany and plunged the world into a third world war.

I now ask myself the question, are we heading down that very route now? To answer that, I am in the process of writing the first book in a new Cold War trilogy, or the ‘Cool War’ as it is sometimes referred to. The first draft title is ‘The Cold War – Redux (Duplicity)’.

Where does my story start? I felt the only way to find the answer to that was to go to the very melting pot that could turn the Cool War, into a Hot War, the Ukraine. I have made two trips so far, and the next 12 Posts will relate my experiences while there.

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The flag of Ukraine.

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T-80, painted in the colours of the Ukrainian Flag,  at the War Museum in Kiev

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Before I head for Zaporizhia and Mariupol in Southern Ukraine, I just wanted to cover a few more points. One in particular concerns the National Police of Ukraine.

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The arm patch of the national Police of Ukraine.

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Th National Police Force of Ukraine was formed on the 3 July 2015, as part of the post Euromaidan reforms launched by the Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

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It was launched to replace the previous national police service, the Militsiya.

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On the 7 November 2015, all the remaining militsiya were labelled as ‘temporary acting members of the National Police.

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2,000 new policemen and women, picked from 33,000 applicants, were recruited to initiate the new service in Kiev.

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In order to reduce the likelihood of corruption, the monthly salary for a police officer is nearly $400, three times that of the original militsiya. This new force is being rolled out across Ukraine and is expected to be launched in the port-city of Mariupol in the next couple of months.

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I completed a last tour of Kiev before my rail trip the next day.

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Passing the impressive building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.

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St Andrew’s Church Museum.

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I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Kiev and it is a city well worth a visit.

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Before my next Post where I cover my first trip to Mariupol, I just wanted a reminder as to why the majority of Ukrainians hate Putin so much. Particularly those areas that border the occupied zones of the Donetsk Donbass region.

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For a number of months in 2014, Kiev was not the peaceful place it is today. There were daily protests in Independence Square.

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Riots and battles with police were an everyday occurrence as the Ukrainian people flexed their muscles to shake off the yoke of the old Soviet Block Empire.

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And although their are still occupied zones, occupied by the pro-Russian separatists and Russian Federation soldiers, the rest of the country, with the support of the Ukrainian Army and the volunteers, prevailed.

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For my next Post, I will cover my trip to Ukraine. I chose to go from Kiev to Zaporizhia (550km – 7 hours), then by car to Mariupol (250km – 3-4 hours). The alternative was a train direct to Mariupol, due to the position of the Occupied territories, would take in the region of 22 hours.

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From Zaporizhia to Mariupol, it involved going through four checkpoints, my British Passport attracting a lot of interest. Fortunately, on the first occasion I had a good friend, Pavlo, with me.

Next week I will cover my trip to Mariupol.

It was, and is still, a very complicated situation in Ukraine. So, if some of my information is incorrect, then please flag it to me and I can amend the content. Thank you for reading this first Post.

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