Under threat of a Russian invasion, Kyiv shrugs — and prepares for war
KYIV, Ukraine — Tens of thousands of Russian troops stand battle-ready just a few hundred miles away. The U.S. repeats warnings of a "horrific" invasion that could come at any hour. Friendly nations speed up weapons shipments to help Ukraine's work-in-progress army fend off an attack.
None of that fazes Vasily, a 26-year-old street performer in an oversize bear suit in Kyiv's central square. Only eight years ago, the Maidan was thronged with tens of thousands of protesters who succeeded in ousting their pro-Russian president, a seismic event that spurred Moscow to seize Ukraine's Crimean peninsula. These days, the plaza is empty of demonstrators, with Vasily and his colleagues — one of them dressed as Tony the Tiger — taking selfies with the occasional tourist.
"War? There's absolutely no war here. Look
