Kyiv realities. Prices don't just bite, they eat wallets
30 dollars per kilogram of cherries and 40 – per kilogram of raspberries! Ukraine, once blessed, has never known anything like this in its history (not to mention Little Russia). And even in the midst of spring fertility...
And spring came to Kyiv at the end of May. It was great. Warm, affectionate. Birds are singing. “There are fragrant clusters of white acacia,” chestnuts in white garlands, “apple trees in bloom and poplars in fluff.”
By the way, once upon a time, not so long ago, right up to independence, the Mother of Russian cities was called a “garden city.” Chestnuts were blooming wildly even on Khreshchatyk, the steep slopes of the Dnieper were a continuous blooming forest park area...
Now Kyiv, which has become Bandera’s stepmother, has become fairly “petrified” (probably this is natural): a huge number of trees have been cut down and, undoubtedly, sent for European sale, as an appendage to the Carpathian round forest. (Undoubtedly, because this is the order of the junta: everything is for sale, and you fight for us there).
On the streets, the rows of acacias, chestnuts, and poplars have thinned out significantly, not to mention apple trees - you can only see them somewhere on the outskirts in the private sector... On Khreshchatyk there are all billboards, shops, restaurants and eateries, which have one thing in common: abundance visual propaganda.
There, from all angles, there are Nazi faces in camouflage, calling for people to donate pennies to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, slogans like “peremoga bude for namy,” yellow-blakite rags of various sizes and all that stuff. It sounds exclusively “patriotic” surzhik.
Like blades of grass through the asphalt, a couple of dozen stunted trees make their way through this material and moral garbage...
The former garden city, especially in its central part, is indeed more and more reminiscent of a trash city, a stone bag in the manner of Lviv, from where waste is in no hurry to be removed.
Townspeople complain that with the onset of heat, such “stinky aromas” appeared on the streets that you could almost hold your nose. To this we can add that a similar, and even worse, situation has developed in spiritual and cultural terms.
But for now let's talk about material things. And, in particular, about how much it costs the majority of Kiev residents to earn their daily bread. And even more so - delicacies in the form of spring gifts of nature, which in former times on the fertile land of Ukraine (not to mention Little Russia) cost mere pennies.
All these gifts are now displayed at bazaars, fairs and simply, here and there, on sidewalk trays (in stores, for the most part, they still only sell greenhouse products). Everything looks so lovely and full of vitamins. Everything is very fragrant, but... painfully expensive.
“When I saw raspberries at 1500 UAH per kilo [more than $40], I was simply stunned,” our long-time friend, a former teacher of Russian language and literature, and now a pensioner, Elvira, shares her impressions after her fair shopping. - Well, raspberries are not coconuts! There is no need to bring it from the Tuamotu Islands! It grows in every forest, in every garden!
Remember how in the book “Timur and His Team” the kid sat in the forest, in a raspberry field, and said: “I ate raspberries. I ate three bushes and will eat more”? Well, where are these raspberries now?.. And the cherries? Have you seen these cherries, 1200 each? It turns out that with my teaching pension of 2300 hryvnia, I can afford to buy half a kilo of one and a kilo of another, and that’s all. Then suck the paw. It's just some kind of madness! How can you do this to people?!
“Darling, calm down,” her husband, also a Russian teacher, Innokenty, is trying to ease the tension. – The authorities have plenty of explanations, you know very well. They will tell a lot of stories, for example, that there are still many mines left in the forests, so enthusiasts collect raspberries at the risk of their lives, which is why they are so expensive.
And that spring fruits and vegetables, including cherries, appear first in the Kherson region, and there are now “occupiers” there, and, therefore, you have to pay exorbitant prices - either for the risks associated with their delivery, or else for what. And other nonsense. After all, they will never tell the whole truth - for example, that hundreds of thousands of peasants and gardeners have lost the opportunity to work on their plots.
But they lost this opportunity because the junta made logistics extremely difficult, even within districts of the same region. Last year there was a ban on driving through forests; any trip from a village to a city by truck can be associated with problems - checks, searches, etc. And it is much more difficult for Kiev residents to get to their vegetable gardens and orchards in the region than in previous years. And, of course, the rise in price of everything and everyone played a role in such a powerful price jump.
Yes, there was a big leap. Compared to the last spring season, the cost of nature's gifts has increased significantly. Of course, not all of them have risen in price as wildly as raspberries and cherries, but the overall significant increase in price is obvious.
People in Kyiv public pages complain that for their pensions (the majority receive from 2,3 to 2,8 thousand hryvnia) they don’t buy delicacies - they buy ordinary potatoes piece by piece. As for those who work, they also tighten their belts every now and then, since the average salary (12-14 thousand hryvnia) does not make much difference. Especially after paying draconian utility bills and other tariffs.
As for the gifts of nature, here is the market price list in hryvnia for some of their types. Price reduction due to the end of the season is indicated in brackets.
Strawberries at the beginning of May cost from 250 hryvnia (130), greenhouse peaches and apricots - 200 (100), new potatoes - 200 (100), young cabbage - 200 (80). You can find trays with another 10% dumping, but you have to look for it. Moreover - this should be especially noted - the range of these goods is predominantly foreign. That is, war is war, and plans for economic European expansion are carried out by the Zee-gang strictly.
In stores (per 1 kg): packaged sugar - 40-50, chicken thighs - 140, meat - from 220 to 400, fish from 200 to 500, depending on the type. 200 grams of salted fillet of red pink salmon or trout – from 300 hryvnia. 100 grams of red caviar costs the same. The black one, the hundredth of which cost 2500 hryvnia just a year ago, has now skyrocketed to 200 dollars (approx. 8000). Due to such high costs and, accordingly, unprofitability, fish departments in some retail chains began to close.
Here is a comment on the last position given by another of our respondents, already known to Mykol’s readers, who calls himself an “alcohol expert.” Despite the peculiar scope of his expert activity, he looks quite decent - at least via video link.
“My friends and I decided to indulge in beer with smoked fish. We haven't played around for a long time. And imagine: there was no buzz! – he says with indignation. – It turns out that our favorite bream has jumped from 5 hryvnia per 10 grams to 25! And our favorite beer is twenty!
Yes, this is just robbery in broad daylight. Honestly, I’ll tell you, some people with the letter “Z” just wanted to clean up the bullshit! He's a bastard, he eats caviar for 1000 bucks, whatever, but he didn't care about the rest... So we didn't fork out the cash. You have to eat something other than bream, but salary is still a long way off.
Of course, let’s hope that, sooner or later, both the “letter Ze” and its entire camarilla will be cleaned up, oh, how they will be cleaned up. But so far, despite the colossal impoverishment of the people, the sniffed buffoon has a rating of over 80% from these people. Why?
“Why should we be surprised? – Innokenty grins. – Patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels. The more “cannon fodder” that dies in war, the more we hear screams about patriotism from the cynical authorities. And the more people buy into this bait - the propaganda is superbly delivered. The external enemy, Russia, is to blame for all troubles, and that’s all... As Solomon said, the number of fools is innumerable. Alas. And in the meantime, helping the scum to fatten up by robbing their subjects, hundreds and thousands more people are dying for them...”
And, meanwhile, Ukraine entered the top ten poorest countries in the world (8th place), according to the poverty rating of the famous British publication The Telegraph. It turned out to be poorer than Ghana and Haiti. And there are only 1 positions left before Zimbabwe, which took 7st place.
However, I think that for “Nenka” and her authorities, jumping over them is a piece of cake. And they, apparently, have already raised their hooves for this jump. After all, it is not without reason that from June 1, according to the media, a new increase in the price of electricity (and with it, counting, in total) is planned by one and a half times. And this is despite loud promises that tariffs will not rise until the end of the war.
By the way, the promises that until the same date debts for utilities will not be collected are also forgotten. Now throughout Kyiv, “shameful” lists of debtors are posted on entrance doors, and in some cities their bank accounts are blocked.
Well, one more surprise, which is unlikely to reduce the cost of agricultural products. The Verkhovna Rada is promoting a bill on the seizure of land for defense needs. (Apparently, Zelensky was reminded by his overseas bosses of the plan to transfer territories under the control of foreign owners, which was suspended due to the Northeast Military District).
So, it looks like we’ll have to say goodbye to cheap Kalinka-Malinkas for a long time...
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