Despite warm clothes, a babushka sits in a park bench soaking in a patch of sun on March 2, 2017.

The Thaw: Springtime in Kyiv

Published: March 6, 2017

Delightfully for a girl from Montana, used to equally cold, dreary winters, the early days of March have been blessed with (as every Ukrainian that I know has insisted) unusually warm temperatures, sunshine, and a lot of snowmelt. From Kyiv’s plentiful mini parks, to streets, to porches,  it seems everyone in the city is basking in it.

Grandmother, mother, and children stand on a snowbank in the Obolone District of Kyiv, as the sidewalk has become a small river. The children throw snow and ice on Febuary 26, 2017.
A couple cautiously walks out onto the frozen, miniature lake in Kyiv’s suburban Obolone District on February 27, 2017. Rapidly appearing holes in the ice suggest it may be one of the last days locals can make the trek across.
In the city’s center, people walks Kyiv’s sunbathed streets on the celebrated March 2nd, 2017, the official first day of spring.
A woman watches the sunset while taking a cigarette break on her balcony in Kyiv’s city center on March 2, 2017.
Tulips, tulips, and more tulips being sold on the first day of Spring in Kyiv on March 2nd, 2017.

 

Outdoor Spring Sightings in Kyiv
Week of March 1st, 2017
Photojournalism by Rebekah Welch

 

About the author

Rebekah Welch

Rebekah Welch is a senior at University of Montana in Missoula. She is a double major in Russian and Journalism with an emphasis on photography. She is studying Russian language at NovaMova in Kiev, and am also working for the school as an intern, creating a photoblog. After a semester abroad, she hopes to become fluent enough in Russian that she can work as photojournalist throughout Russia, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia. Although she loves this area of the world, she has a passion for journalism and will go wherever the story takes her.

Program attended: Challenge Grants

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