Hi @val,
The Flame team salutes your immense courage and hopes that the coming hours - days will bring peace to Ukraine.
We also support our Flame friends and Autodesk colleagues based in Russia who are against the Ukraine invasion and are involved in this turmoil despite themselves.
Stay strong, sir.
All our thoughts are with you, your family, and the Ukrainian people.
Yann
Hi Logik!
Today update would be short. First of all, thanks, Yann, maybe I`m a little bit to biased where it comes to Russia last days, but for obvious reasons. We are safe here. Ukrainian army and townspeople preparing to defend Kyiv. I spent last two days helping delivering food for our defenders. My parents is siting in a bombshell in Kharkiv, at least they are alive. Ukraine fights with Russia, and I hope there is a light in the end of a tunnel. Believe in us, we will win. Photo: Kyiv Central Station yesterday.
Flame on!
Thanks for the update, Val. полум’я горить! 
Keep up the fight Val! My wife was born in Kyiv and I’ve been showing her all your posts. Yesterday, my wife’s father organized a meeting between his US Congressperson and other Ukrainian-Americans to convince him that there needs to be a no fly zone. It’s not a popular idea but hopefully just talking about it can convince Putin there will be consequences to his attacks.
Keep fighting! Ukrainians are total badasses!
Cлава Yкраїні!
We believe in you!
Hey @val
Here is a gift from my daughter. She sent me this tonight from her university. With love from all of us 
Beautiful. Thank you Andy and Lily.
Stay strong and safe, Valentino.
Beautiful
Thanks, it`s beautiful.
Just a little update - we are fine, after two weeks of invasion only one Ukrainian city occupied, all other still fight and burn russian militants.
Today is a birthday of famous ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko
"And on the renewed earth
There will be no enemy, adversary,
And there will be a son and a mother,
And there will be people on earth… »
Flame on!
We are with you! Stay strong! Thank you for the updates!!
Another vendor suspending business with the Russian Federation - I didn’t realize Clean My Mac was from Ukraine. (McDonald’s pull out yesterday was a bigger deal, but it’s heartening to see smaller scale moves as well.)
“The Gates at Kyiv”
One of my favorite pieces, and it’s hard to hear this without hearing the spirit of a defiant people standing up in triumph.
Mussorgsky was Russian. Let’s not forget that the Russian people are not at fault here and are themselves victims. I’ve gone out of my way to listen to the great Russians in the last couple of weeks. Rachmaninov, Rimsky-Korsakov, Tchaikovsky, etc. It will be a shame to see a wonderful people cut off and isolated due to the actions of one small man. It’s troubling to see anti-Russian violence on people obviously not complicit.
Beautifully put. Putin and his support should not seep through to collateral damage simply because of being Russian or having Russian in your name (super-strange reactions to shops, dogs, etc.). People need to take a step back and this is a good example of that. Well said and shared.
Cheers
Tony
No, the Russian people are not invading Ukraine but there is no question that the Russian people enabled Putin (in the same way that Americans enabled Trump) with dreams of a return to a massively idealized state of Russian old-world dominance.
The sanctions will hurt the Russian people most but that’s part of the point isn’t it? If the sanctions squeeze the Russian people to the point they want change and then if the amount of people that want that change reaches critical mass won’t they enact that change given the power of their numbers?
I’d also imagine the more 700 million euro yachts that get seized and billion euro assets that get frozen, the more likely those with the real power in Russia will lose patience with this conflict.
No, I don’t believe we should be shouting angrily at Russians or dumping out Russian vodka or any of those stupid things. Likewise shouting at another American because of political alignment is exactly what creates the divisions that allow us to be duped by those who benefit from our fractured society much like the Russians have by Putin. But we need to also hold people accountable for their decisions and intelligent bidirectional discussion is key.
I really hope intelligent bidirectional discussion is possible at the necessary scale, but call me an optimistic pessimist… Information wars, propaganda, sensationalized media have reached an unprecedented level of sophistication in our modern, connected/divided world. Political opportunists have built platforms and followings for their own gains by playing off the emotionally expedient… On the other hand, it’s this same access that has allowed people to post viral video documentation providing true accountability. What a double-edged sword…
Whether it be on the far left or right, it seems the center and off-center (where reasonable intelligent discussion can take place) doesn’t get enough likes, views, or ratings to reach a broad enough audience to be truly effective. I am still however, hopeful. (and still seek rational journalistic voices)
I watched a story over the weekend of a Ukrainian man speaking to his father in Russia about the happenings in Kyiv and needing to find shelter for his family etc and his father not believing that his son was telling the truth, that his family and children were in danger, that the Russian army was not met with open arms and adulation, that they weren’t liberating the Ukrainian people of the nazis…
I do genuinely hope the international economic squeeze and Ukrainian resistance proves successful over time. I feel for the Russians who see through the bullshit & feel trapped by their leader’s decisions. Even if massive public support from Russia’s economic classes pressure Putin to end the war, a rationalization will be broadcast to the Russian people to make any outcome deemed a victory. At this point, I’ll take it. With a grain of salt.
The war of information however, will continue on both at home and abroad. Hearts and minds…
I’ve been thinking about @val this whole weekend amidst all the developing news. Hoping he and his family are doing allright.
Hoping Val is safe. It’s been a while. Scary times!
I’m scared to ask.
He’s ok, got an update.
