In Europe for the northern summer this year, Peter Macky decided he needed to revisit Kyiv. It’s something he’d done before many times, most recently in September 2022, seven months after the start of Mr Putin's invasion. Peter knew and enjoyed the city. But was this wise, to return to a city involved in a brutal war with its far more powerful, and certainly more belligerent and unpredictable neighbour?  There was only one way to find out. Without telling his family, he crossed the border into Ukraine in June for the 650 km journey, heading east to Kyiv and towards the Front lines. It was to be a memorable return.

About Peter Macky

Peter Macky was born in New Zealand and was educated in Auckland and New York. He is a retired lawyer with an enduring interest in urban design, European history and built heritage. He’s a published author whose books include: Wartime Correspondence, Coolangatta A Homage and A Kaiserbahnhof in Halbe. Since retiring from legal practice, Peter established a second home in Berlin where he lives in the northern summer. In that city his company Easy Cycling Tours Limited offers tours of Berlin, Potsdam and Dresden. For the past twelve years he has been restoring a train station built for the Hohenzollern family in 1865. His most recent interest in Europe is the New Zealand Liberation Museum (Te Arawhata), of which he's written the history of its purchase in Le Quesnoy.

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