内容摘要：He positioned himself as best fit to lead the country through the present crisis, leaning on his experience as the former central banker for Canada during the Great Recession and for the UK at the Bank of England during Brexit.

He positioned himself as best fit to lead the country through the present crisis, leaning on his experience as the former central banker for Canada during the Great Recession and for the UK at the Bank of England during Brexit.

There are pictures from life before the war, too: laughing on a beach, dancing at a disco. The couple are full of energy and life.When Russian tanks rolled into their city in early 2022, the Plachkovs decided to stay. The entire country was under attack in an invasion that Vladimir Putin had threatened, but most could not imagine until the first explosions.

In those first weeks, Lyudmila joined the crowds waving blue and yellow Ukrainian flags and shouting at the soldiers to leave. Then the round-up began.In Putin's Russia, fear is a way of rule: dissent is crushed and critics imprisoned. The aim is to punish the few and scare the rest into compliance.Now the same principle was being imported to the swathes of southern and eastern Ukraine illegally claimed by Russia, with soldiers patrolling the streets.

There, those considered loyal to Kyiv were seen as traitors.After a few months in that climate, Lyudmila fled abroad as a refugee. But her mother didn't want to leave her city, her own parents or the business she and Oleh had built up. She also had faith in the Ukrainian military.

In late 2023, all the talk was of a counteroffensive in the southeast to take territory back from Russia and Tetiana believed Melitopol would be liberated.

"She was a strong optimist," Lyudmila smiles. "I'd say, 'mum, maybe you should leave.' And she'd say, 'Just a little more time. Our guys will push harder.'""One of my self-care routines is sitting at home without a smile on my face," he laughed.

"I'm done smiling, I'm done talking, I'm done educating. I am very aware that I need time on my own to recharge."When asked how parents should react when their child points out a stranger's differences, he said they should try to turn it into a positive experience.

"Once they have a little bit of knowledge, or a little bit of an answer, kids usually accept that and they move on," he said."By telling them to be quiet, or 'Shhhh, we don't want to offend that person, come away' that's not going to help. That's just going to increase that curiosity."