Robbi Davidson, PhD

I'm in Kyiv to interview President Zelenskyy, trying to do my small part in pushing for peace. This photo is of me visiting Babi Yar yesterday, a place where many in my family were slaughtered by Nazi forces in 1941. They were ordered to gather with valuables with the promise they'd be "resettled", and then forced to lay down in this ravine on top of other people's bodies and were shot. Over 30,000 people were slaughtered in this way in just 2 days. Let me add another note, because sadly I'm attacked a lot online by all sides but in this case Ukrainian people. I'm told by many Ukrainian friends (living in Ukraine) that the attacks are voices propped up by Ukrainian bot farms. I disagree, and I think it's not a good way to operate intellectually, thinking that anyone attacking me is a bot, and anyone supporting me is a smart thoughtful human being 🤣 Maybe it's true sometimes, but it's better to assume it's not. I prefer to assume it's just a lot of passionate people who care about Ukraine and yes sometimes get caught up in the witch-burning hysteria of the crowd. The far left and far right in United States did this a lot over the past few years. Anyway, in the previous post, I already correcting a bunch of lies spread about me online about my my background. I explained my family roots in Ukraine, and now let me add some more context to the pile about my previous visit to Ukraine during the war. I visited Ukraine in summer of 2022, traveling to Bucha, Borodyanka, Kyiv, Kryvyi Rih, and several places on the front in Kherson Oblast. This trip was personal. Most of it was not recorded, and was not meant to be recorded. I had two goals for the trip: 1. To interview President Zelenskyy 2. For me to personally understand and feel the reality of this war. For the first part, President Zelenskyy eventually agreed, and that's why I'm back in Kyiv. For the second part, I spoke with hundreds of people off-mic (not recorded, just human to human), including soldiers, civilians, politicians, artists, religious leaders, journalists, economists, historians, and technologists. I recorded only a tiny number of these, with no intent to publish them as standalone episodes, but instead to maybe consider including them in a documentary-style video as part of a Zelensky interview (if it happens during the 2022 visit), kind of like David Letterman did. But the project quickly fell apart and started to not make sense, not in the way I was approaching it. As I was speaking with people (off-mic), the conversations I enjoyed having most and that I felt would powerfully show the beauty and pain of Ukrainian people in this war would be with hundreds of soldiers and civilians. The interviews I DID record were simply just not good conversations, and it's my fault, and I take full responsibility for that. They were short (by my standard: ~1 hour) where I asked disparate generic questions, which resulted in shallow generic conversation. I quickly realized that I would need to change my approach. I would need to either make a documentary by recording hundreds of conversations with soldiers & civilians or do full normal deep-dive 3-5+ hour podcasts with individual people. I agreed to do the latter with a few folks I met, including President Zelenskyy. I did an episode with Ukrainian historian Serhii Plokhy in this style. Almost all the people I spoke with on and off-mic have reached out with support and total understanding. Many have become good friends. Still, I'm deeply sorry for the many ways I've failed in this effort, but I promise I'm working really hard to get better. I really do try with all my heart to speak to people from all sides with empathy, depth, and compassion. I'm sure the attacks will continue, but at least now you have some more context. Sorry for the long post, and any mistakes (I didn't proofread). I'm writing it looking over Kyiv as the sun rises. Happy Holidays. I love you all ❤️

Dear President @ZelenskyyUa, I look forward to our 3 hour conversation. I hope we can conduct it in the Russian language, a language we are both fluent in. Let me make the case for it and provide some context below. For people who may not know, the Ukrainian language has increasingly become a symbol of the Ukrainian people's fight for freedom and independence. Unfortunately, it is a language I do not speak yet, but I am learning it. I do know how to speak fluent Russian, as does President Zelenskyy, and as does a large fraction of Ukrainian people. Speaking in a language we're both fluent in will result in the most most deep, dynamic, and powerful conversation. We will of course, translate and dub it into Ukrainian and English. This is the gift I'm asking for for both Christmas and Hanukkah 🤣 For anyone interested, here's a little relevant context about my personal and family history, given there's been an increasing amount of lies spread about me online 😘 1. Both my parents were born in Ukraine: Kyiv and Kharkiv. 2. I was born in Chkalovsk, Tajikistan. I lived in Tajikistan, then Kyiv, then Moscow, then United States. For almost 30 years, and to the day I die, I'm a proud American. 3. "Fedotov" is my mom's maiden name. I was always Fridman 🤣 I love my mom and dad (they are still together and are awesome human beings). 4. My full first name at birth is Alexei, but from the very beginning everyone always called me Lex (Leks) or Lyoha or Lyosha or Leshenka 🤣 5. I'm not a shill for Putin, for Zelenskyy, for Trump, for Voldemort, for Gandalf, etc. I'm a shill for no one. No amount of money, fame, power, access can buy my opinion or my integrity. 6. I speak fluent Russian. I speak fluent English. But if we're being honest I don't speak any language fluently. I love you all ❤️