Kyiv Never Fell
Quick answer: Why did Kyiv never fall, according to John Fenzel?
John writes that Kyiv stands because its people refused to stop fighting and didn't wait for rescue. A driver told him the Russians expected to take the city in three days and never reached the center. Residents sheltered in the Metro, built barriers by hand, flooded their own rivers, and fought street by street.
John arrived in Kyiv as rain lifted over the plains. A highway billboard showed a young soldier above the words We Are Still Here. Checkpoints with sandbags and tank traps smelled of diesel and damp earth. The capital looked defiantly alive: cafés open, musicians near Independence Square, a church bell over traffic. Kyiv never fell, he writes, and that was no accident. His driver said the Russians wanted the city in three days and never reached the center. In 2022, families slept in Metro stations beside strangers. The glass pedestrian bridge, damaged by a missile, has been repaired; couples cross it with coffee. At Babyn Yar, the 1941 massacre memorial stands among birches, and when missiles struck nearby in 2022, people came the next morning to clear debris. That night, John lived through the most intense and prolonged missile and drone attack of the war. By daylight, a Shahed had killed a family of four, including a 12-year-old girl. Kyiv's endurance rebuilds each morning.
Why it matters for leaders: Endurance isn't triumph; it's the choice to rebuild every morning knowing the sirens may come again.
Q: What happened the night John was there?
A: Kyiv experienced the most intense and prolonged missile and drone attack of the war; a Shahed hit a residential area and killed a family of four, including a 12-year-old girl.
Q: What did John's translator say?
A: “They thought we were weak because we are free… They forgot that we value our freedom more than anything.”
Read the full article on LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/kyiv-never-fell-john-fenzel-jhhje
By John Fenzel, founder and CEO of Heroes' Path Foundation