A year after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, coexistence is fraying in New York's “Little Odesa” neighbourhood.
In fact, the city's largest Russian-speaking neighbourhood is now undergoing a kind of “de-Russification”.
Located in Brooklyn’s Brighton Beach enclave, many of the community's residents are from the former Soviet Union. Russians and Ukrainians who for decades lived side by side are grappling with complex emotions and resentment stirred up by the war in Ukraine.
Michael Levitis, who immigrated from Moscow in 1988 and hosts a Russian-language radio show on Radio Freedom FM 104.7, told The National that the community has fractured.
“There's a lot of anti-Russian backlash,” he said.
When tens of thousands of Russian-speaking Soviet Jews fled persecution at home, many chose to settle in Brighton Beach and the new community soon took its nickname from the Ukrainian Black Sea port city of Odesa.
Many of the businesses here are owned by Ukrainians or Russian Jews who now distance themselves from their Russian roots. For example, one of the most popular grocery stores in the area was, until recently, called “A Taste of Russia”.
But last February, the store’s owner took down the shop’s sign after customers complained. It is now simply called “International Food”. Other restaurants and shops associated with Russia have been the target of boycotts.
Allies become foes
When he first arrived to New York’s Little Odesa as a teenager with his family, Mr Levitis said the community never differentiated between those from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan or other Soviet republics.
Russian dominated conversations on the streets of one of the largest Russian and Ukrainian communities in America, said Mr Levitis.
“Even if you were from Ukraine and spoke Russian, it meant you're Russian,” he said.
“Now, Ukrainians are speaking their own language to differentiate themselves from the Russians and other former Soviet Union immigrants.”
Mr Levitis grew up surrounded by stories of the Second World War.
“My grandfather was a Ukrainian Jew who served in the Russian Soviet army against the Nazis, shoulder to shoulder with all the Russians, Ukrainian and Georgians … and now the people he was serving with are fighting each other,” he said.
Yan Yufit, a film producer from Uzbekistan, said there are people who have been living in New York's Little Odessa for 30 years and still side with Russia's President Putin.
"It's unbelievable," said Mr Yufit.
Michael Novakhov, a politician from the former Soviet Union who now serves as a member of the New York State Assembly, told The National that both Ukrainians and Russians are “hostages” of the war in Ukraine.
He noted that even as the death toll soars in Ukraine, people in his community are losing interest in the conflict.
“It was very easy to collect donations for Ukrainians when the war began, and it's nearly impossible to do it now,” Mr Novakhov said.
New York City's 'Little Odesa' — in pictures
Praying for the war to end
Like many who fled Russia’s invasion, Alona Stoliar’s thoughts constantly drift back to her Ukrainian husband who was killed by Russian special forces two days after the war began.
The 25-year-old mother told The National that leaving was one of the most difficult decisions she had to make.
Ms Stoliar wanted to travel to the US because she believed she could be of more help to her native country.
However, she longs for the life she had to leave behind and has made the decision to return home and resettle in Kyiv. A trained psychologist, she wants to help treat traumatised troops.
Iryna Karpenko, an actress and former beauty queen who represented Ukraine at a pageant last year in Athens, said she did not want to leave her native country but had to at the behest of her husband.
“I pray every day for the war to end,” she told The National.
So as not to lose her mind, Ms Karpenko has been actively involved in sending humanitarian aid to Ukraine.
She has also supported and hosted Ukrainian children who have come to the US to escape the war.
Ms Karpenko is staging a musical, Breath of Freedom, which captures the disaster in her country to send a message to the world that Ukraine is an “independent nation that needs to be respected”.
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
In-demand jobs and monthly salaries
- Technology expert in robotics and automation: Dh20,000 to Dh40,000
- Energy engineer: Dh25,000 to Dh30,000
- Production engineer: Dh30,000 to Dh40,000
- Data-driven supply chain management professional: Dh30,000 to Dh50,000
- HR leader: Dh40,000 to Dh60,000
- Engineering leader: Dh30,000 to Dh55,000
- Project manager: Dh55,000 to Dh65,000
- Senior reservoir engineer: Dh40,000 to Dh55,000
- Senior drilling engineer: Dh38,000 to Dh46,000
- Senior process engineer: Dh28,000 to Dh38,000
- Senior maintenance engineer: Dh22,000 to Dh34,000
- Field engineer: Dh6,500 to Dh7,500
- Field supervisor: Dh9,000 to Dh12,000
- Field operator: Dh5,000 to Dh7,000
Friday’s fixture
6.15pm: Al Wahda v Hatta
6.15pm: Al Dhafra v Ajman
9pm: Al Wasl v Baniyas
9pm: Fujairah v Sharjah
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%3Cp%3EEncourage%20innovation%20in%20the%20metaverse%20field%20and%20boost%20economic%20contribution%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EDevelop%20outstanding%20talents%20through%20education%20and%20training%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EDevelop%20applications%20and%20the%20way%20they%20are%20used%20in%20Dubai's%20government%20institutions%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EAdopt%2C%20expand%20and%20promote%20secure%20platforms%20globally%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EDevelop%20the%20infrastructure%20and%20regulations%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
What sanctions would be reimposed?
Under ‘snapback’, measures imposed on Iran by the UN Security Council in six resolutions would be restored, including:
- An arms embargo
- A ban on uranium enrichment and reprocessing
- A ban on launches and other activities with ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons, as well as ballistic missile technology transfer and technical assistance
- A targeted global asset freeze and travel ban on Iranian individuals and entities
- Authorisation for countries to inspect Iran Air Cargo and Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines cargoes for banned goods
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
England's lowest Test innings
- 45 v Australia in Sydney, January 28, 1887
- 46 v West Indies in Port of Spain, March 25, 1994
- 51 v West Indies in Kingston, February 4, 2009
- 52 v Australia at The Oval, August 14, 1948
- 53 v Australia at Lord's, July 16, 1888
- 58 v New Zealand in Auckland, March 22, 2018
And%20Just%20Like%20That...
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Various%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Sarah%20Jessica%20Parker%2C%20Cynthia%20Nixon%2C%20Kristin%20Davis%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%203%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
HIJRA
Starring: Lamar Faden, Khairiah Nathmy, Nawaf Al-Dhufairy
Director: Shahad Ameen
Rating: 3/5
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Look north
BBC business reporters, like a new raft of government officials, are being removed from the national and international hub of London and surely the quality of their work must suffer.
Earth under attack: Cosmic impacts throughout history
- 4.5 billion years ago: Mars-sized object smashes into the newly-formed Earth, creating debris that coalesces to form the Moon
- 66 million years ago: 10km-wide asteroid crashes into the Gulf of Mexico, wiping out over 70 per cent of living species – including the dinosaurs.
- 50,000 years ago: 50m-wide iron meteor crashes in Arizona with the violence of 10 megatonne hydrogen bomb, creating the famous 1.2km-wide Barringer Crater
- 1490: Meteor storm over Shansi Province, north-east China when large stones “fell like rain”, reportedly leading to thousands of deaths.
- 1908: 100-metre meteor from the Taurid Complex explodes near the Tunguska river in Siberia with the force of 1,000 Hiroshima-type bombs, devastating 2,000 square kilometres of forest.
- 1998: Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 breaks apart and crashes into Jupiter in series of impacts that would have annihilated life on Earth.
-2013: 10,000-tonne meteor burns up over the southern Urals region of Russia, releasing a pressure blast and flash that left over 1600 people injured.
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
