# OPEN LETTER: To Vitaliy Kim, Governor of Mykolaiv, After a 66-Year-Old Driver's Death > Introduction: a letter for a man I never met - Author: Maxime Marquette - Publisher: MadMax (https://mad-max.co) - Section: Open letter - Published: 2026-07-03 - Canonical URL: https://mad-max.co/en/article/lettre-ouverte-lettre-ouverte-a-vitaliy-kim-gouverneur-de-mykolaiv-apres-la-mort-dun-chauffeur-de-66-ans ## Key takeaways - The attack, per Ukrainska Pravda and UNN, killed a 66-year-old driver, and three men aged 25, 42 and 50 were wounded. - The author argues the company had no military purpose and that Russia targets civilian economic infrastructure to weaken Ukraine's ability to function as a society. - The letter praises Kim's direct communication with the public and calls for Western partners to include rural and agricultural regions in air defense planning. - It attributes Shahed drones to Iranian design and Russian production, framing the Russia-Iran-North Korea-China relationship as an authoritarian convergence that should strengthen Western sanctions and support. - The author asks that ordinary workers who die be honored alongside soldiers, and calls for fairer Western media coverage of attacks outside major cities. ## Introduction: a letter for a man I never met ### A name, an age, a life cut short Governor Vitaliy Kim, I am writing you this open letter after reading your words about the **attack** of July 2, **2026** on an agricultural company in Nova Odesa, in your Mykolaiv region. A sixty-six-year-old driver was killed by a **Russian** **Shahed** drone, according to information reported by Ukrainska Pravda, while probably performing a task as ordinary as it was necessary: transporting crops or farm equipment. Three other men, aged twenty-five, forty-two and fifty, were wounded in the same **attack**, according to details provided by UNN. These four men were not waging **war**. They were enduring it, like millions of **Ukrainians** for more than four years, simply by working to feed their country. ### Why I am writing to you directly I choose to address you directly, Mr. Kim, because you have embodied, since this **war** began, a form of direct and unfiltered communication with the population of your region, a transparency that contrasts sharply with the systematic opacity of the **Russian** regime regarding its own losses and its own crimes. This letter is not meant to instruct you on a reality you know better than anyone, living daily under the threat of **Russian** **drones** and **missiles**. It aims instead to carry your testimony, and that of your fellow citizens, beyond **Ukraine's** borders, to a **West** that sometimes needs reminding of what it means to live under this **war**. ## What the Nova Odesa attack reveals ### An agricultural company, target of a Shahed drone The agricultural company targeted in Nova Odesa had, according to all available information, no military purpose whatsoever. It represented instead one of those essential links in the **Ukrainian** economy that continue functioning despite the **war**, producing the food that feeds the country and, to some extent, the agricultural exports that have sustained the **Ukrainian** economy since 2022. The fact that **Russia** continues targeting this type of civilian infrastructure, with no apparent military justification, once again illustrates the nature of **Russian** strategy: strike everything that allows **Ukraine** to keep functioning as a society, beyond mere conventional military considerations. ### One drone among many that night This **attack** on the agricultural company occurred as part of a broader wave of **Russian** strikes against the Mykolaiv region, with several other incidents reported the same day according to UNN. This repetition of attacks within the same region, in a single day, illustrates the sustained intensity of the **Russian** campaign against **Ukrainian** civilian and economic areas. Each of these strikes, taken individually, might seem minor within the overall context of this **war**. But their constant accumulation paints a far darker picture: that of an entire region under continuous pressure that wears down, day after day, the resilience of its population. ## Your role, Mr. Kim, in this daily war ### A governor who became his region's voice Since the start of the full-scale invasion, you have embodied, Mr. Kim, a form of direct and accessible regional leadership, communicating regularly with the people of Mykolaiv about the attacks endured, the human and material losses, and the ongoing reconstruction efforts. This constant communication, while demanding, plays an essential role in maintaining social cohesion in a region under continuous wartime pressure. Your regular media presence, including internationally, has also helped make the reality experienced by your region known to Western audiences who might otherwise never hear of a sixty-six-year-old driver killed at an agricultural company in Nova Odesa. ### A responsibility beyond mere communication Beyond communication, your role also involves coordinating relief efforts, aid to **victims** and reconstruction in a region that continues to suffer regular attacks despite its relative distance from active **front** lines. This dual responsibility, communicational and operational, represents a considerable burden for any regional leader in wartime. Through this letter, I offer you a form of recognition for this ongoing work, while insisting that this recognition never replaces the urgent need for more substantial **Western** support to protect your region. ## Mykolaiv, an agricultural region on the front line ### A region essential to the Ukrainian economy The Mykolaiv region, with its significant agricultural output, plays a strategic role in the **Ukrainian** economy, contributing to national food production and, indirectly, to the agricultural exports that remain one of **Ukraine's** main sources of foreign revenue in wartime. This economic importance makes the region a recurring target for **Russian** attacks aimed at weakening **Ukrainian** productive capacity. This economic reality adds another dimension to the July 2 **attack**: it did not target only individual human lives, but also, indirectly, **Ukraine's** capacity to maintain a functioning economy despite the **war**. ### A proximity to the front that exposes the population Although Mykolaiv is not directly on the active **front** line, its relative proximity to occupied areas and **Russian** positions in southern **Ukraine** makes it a regular target for **Russian** **drones** and **missiles**, exposing its civilian population to constant risk despite the absence of direct ground combat in the region. This constant exposure, without the visible fighting of an active **front**, creates a particular form of anxiety for the local population: living under threat without ever knowing precisely when or where the next **attack** will strike. ## The human cost of Russia's economic war ### Ordinary workers, extraordinary victims The sixty-six-year-old driver killed in Nova Odesa represents a category of **victims** too often overlooked in **Western** accounts of this **war**: ordinary workers, those who keep doing their jobs despite constant danger, because the **Ukrainian** economy, like any economy, cannot simply stop because a **war** is raging. These workers, often less visible in the media than soldiers on the **front**, nonetheless pay a considerable toll in this **war**, a toll that deserves to be documented and acknowledged with the same rigor as military losses. ### Three wounded who will carry the scars of this attack The three men wounded in this same **attack**, aged twenty-five, forty-two and fifty, will likely carry the physical and psychological scars of that day for a long time, adding their names to an already considerable list of **Ukrainians** marked for life by this **war** of **Russian** aggression. Their recovery, like that of thousands of other **Ukrainian** wounded, will depend in part on the capacity of the **Ukrainian** healthcare system to absorb these growing needs, a system itself severely strained by the exceptional length of this conflict. ## The Western silence over these repeated attacks ### Uneven media attention It must be acknowledged honestly: attacks on economic and agricultural targets like the one in Nova Odesa generally receive far less **Western** media attention than strikes on **Kyiv** or other major **Ukrainian** cities. This unequal media treatment, while understandable under conventional journalistic logic, contributes to an incomplete understanding of the real scale of suffering inflicted by this **war**. Every **attack**, whether it occurs in the capital or in a less publicized agricultural region like Mykolaiv, nonetheless deserves similar attention, as it illustrates the same fundamental reality: a systematic **Russian** aggression against the entirety of **Ukrainian** territory and society. ### A call for fairer coverage This open letter is, modestly, an attempt to partially correct this media imbalance, giving visibility to an event that, without this effort, would risk remaining largely ignored outside specialized circles that follow **Ukrainian** news daily. I firmly believe that every life lost in this **war**, whether in a heavily covered capital or an obscure agricultural company, deserves to be told with the same rigor and the same respect. ## Russian Shaheds, a persistent threat to rural regions ### An Iranian weapon serving Russian terror **Shahed** **drones**, originally developed in **Iran** and now largely produced under license in **Russia**, continue to represent one of the most persistent threats to **Ukrainian** regions far from the active **front**, such as Mykolaiv. This military collaboration between **Moscow** and Tehran illustrates the authoritarian convergence underlying this **war**, in which **Russia** benefits from the technological and material support of regimes hostile to the **West**. This **Russian** dependence on Iranian technology to sustain its strike campaign against **Ukraine** should strengthen Western resolve to more severely sanction this entire authoritarian military supply chain. ### A threat affecting the whole of Ukrainian territory The range and relatively low cost of **Shahed** **drones** allow **Russia** to conduct regular attacks against scattered targets across the entirety of **Ukrainian** territory, including agricultural regions far from active **front** lines, as the Nova Odesa **attack** tragically illustrates. This extended strike capability demands an equally extensive defensive response, which represents a considerable **logistical** and financial challenge for **Ukraine** and its **Western** partners. ## Ukrainian agricultural resilience in the face of war ### Continuing to farm despite the drones Despite repeated attacks on agricultural infrastructure, **Ukrainian** farmers and workers overwhelmingly continue their activities, aware of the strategic and economic importance of their work for their country's survival in wartime. This perseverance, often invisible in mainstream media narratives, deserves particular recognition. This continuity of agricultural activity, despite constant danger, illustrates a form of silent but essential resistance, which directly contributes to **Ukraine's** capacity to keep its economy and society functioning in the midst of **war**. ### A sector that deserves stronger international support The **Ukrainian** agricultural sector, essential not only to the national economy but also to global food security given **Ukraine's** historic role as a grain basket, deserves stronger international support, including protection and insurance mechanisms for workers exposed to risks like the one that cost the Nova Odesa driver his life. This support could take the form of increased financial aid, but also firmer diplomatic pressure for **Russia** to stop targeting civilian infrastructure essential to regional and global food security. ## What this letter concretely asks for ### A call for better protection of rural areas Mr. Kim, through this letter, I wish to make a clear appeal: that **Ukraine's** **Western** partners more explicitly integrate the protection of rural and agricultural regions into their discussions on air **defense**, rather than focusing their attention exclusively on major cities and the most heavily publicized critical infrastructure. This more comprehensive approach to **Ukrainian** territorial protection would better address the reality of a **war** that, as the Nova Odesa **attack** shows, is never confined to the most media-visible areas alone. ### A call never to forget these less visible victims I also ask you, Mr. Kim, to continue your essential communication work, which allows stories like that of this sixty-six-year-old driver to cross **Ukrainian** borders and reach **Western** readers who would otherwise never hear of him. It is thanks to this kind of constant communication that columnists like me can, in turn, carry these stories further, contributing modestly to keeping international attention on a **war** that, despite its length, continues to produce daily tragedies that too often go unseen. ## The convergence of authoritarian threats against Ukraine ### A war that extends beyond the Russo-Ukrainian conflict alone The Nova Odesa **attack**, like so many before it, fits into a broader geopolitical context in which **Russia** benefits from the direct or indirect support of authoritarian regimes such as **Iran**, **North Korea** and, to a lesser diplomatic extent, **China**. This authoritarian convergence transforms what might seem a regional conflict into a truly global stake for the future of the rules-based international order. Understanding this global dimension of the conflict should strengthen, rather than weaken, Western determination to support **Ukraine** through to a just victory, as the stakes extend well beyond **Ukrainian** borders alone. ### The West facing a historic choice Faced with this authoritarian convergence, the **West** stands before a historic choice: continue firmly supporting **Ukraine** through to victory, or risk sending a dangerous signal to every authoritarian regime about the ability of patience and brutality to overcome democratic resistance. This choice, playing out concretely in places like Nova Odesa, extends far beyond the mere immediate tactical or territorial considerations of this conflict. ## Zelensky's role in defending these regions ### A president who forgets no region President Volodymyr **Zelensky** continues, despite the considerable burden of managing this **war** at the national level, to pay attention to attacks occurring in less publicized regions like Mykolaiv, regularly reminding everyone that every part of **Ukrainian** territory deserves equal protection against **Russian** aggression. This attention paid to the entire territory, rather than only the most media-visible areas, illustrates an inclusive conception of national **defense** that deserves to be highlighted and supported by **Ukraine's** **Western** partners. ### Necessary coordination between central power and regional governors The collaboration between **Zelensky's** central government and regional governors like you, Mr. Kim, is one of the essential pillars of **Ukraine's** capacity to respond effectively to attacks scattered across the entire national territory, despite the limited resources available for comprehensive air **defense**. This coordination, though it can still be improved, demonstrates a form of institutional resilience that deserves recognition as one of the factors explaining **Ukrainian** resistance capacity after more than four years of **war**. ## What this attack means for the near future ### A threat showing no sign of diminishing Nothing indicates, at this stage of the conflict, that attacks on regions like Mykolaiv will diminish in the near future. On the contrary, the persistence of this type of **attack** suggests **Russia** will keep using its Shahed **drones** against scattered targets across the entirety of **Ukrainian** territory as long as it retains the material capacity and the necessary Iranian technological support. This discouraging outlook should push **Ukraine's** **Western** partners to accelerate, rather than slow, their material and diplomatic support efforts against a threat showing no sign of fading. ### A resilience that will still need to endure The population of Mykolaiv, like that of all of **Ukraine**, will likely have to keep living under this constant threat for an indeterminate period, which makes stronger international support all the more urgent to ease, as much as possible, this considerable human burden. This difficult reality must nonetheless never lead to discouragement, but rather strengthen collective determination, both **Ukrainian** and Western, to continue this fight through to a just resolution of this conflict. ## What history will remember of these forgotten attacks ### A collective memory to build starting now The history of this **war** will not remember only the great battles and the massive bombardments on capitals. It will also have to remember these quieter attacks, like the one in Nova Odesa, which tell another essential facet of this **Russian** aggression: its ability to reach every corner of **Ukrainian** territory, with no distinction between major cities and rural regions. Building this collective memory now, rather than waiting for the conflict's end, helps ensure no victim is forgotten in the final account of this **war**, no matter where they fell. ### The role of columnists in building this memory As a columnist, I consider part of my responsibility to be precisely contributing to this collective memory, by refusing to let less publicized attacks sink into oblivion in favor of only the most spectacular events of this **war**. I share this narrative responsibility with many other columnists and journalists who continue, despite the surrounding media fatigue, to document every facet of this **Russian** aggression against **Ukraine**. ## A final word on the dignity of Ukrainian workers ### Work as an act of silent resistance Continuing to work at an agricultural company despite the constant risk of drone strikes represents, in its own way, an act of silent resistance against **Russian** aggression. This sixty-six-year-old driver, by going to work that day, was participating, perhaps without explicitly knowing it, in this collective effort to maintain normal **Ukrainian** life despite the **war**. This dignity of daily work, pursued despite the danger, deserves to be honored with the same solemnity as military courage on the front, as both forms of resistance contribute equally to **Ukraine's** survival as a nation. ### A final call for recognition Mr. Kim, I ask you, through this final section, to keep publicly honoring these ordinary workers who fell in the line of duty, on the same footing as soldiers who fell at the front, for their sacrifice, though different in nature, contributes just as much to **Ukrainian** national resilience. This public recognition, however symbolic, means a great deal to grieving families who see in this tribute a validation of the meaning of their loved one's sacrifice. ## Conclusion: this letter continues, in the hope of being heard ### A modest tribute to an ordinary life Mr. Kim, this letter ends as it began: with the name absent, but the memory present, of a sixty-six-year-old driver killed while working at an agricultural company in Nova Odesa. I will likely never know his full name, his personal story, his loved ones. But I refuse to let him disappear into the statistical anonymity of this **war**. This letter, like so many others written by columnists around the world, is a modest attempt to bear witness, beyond **Ukrainian** borders, to what it means to live and work under the constant threat of this **war** of **Russian** aggression. ### A final call to action I close this letter by reiterating my appeal: that the **West** finally turn its verbal support into concrete and swift action, so that regions like Mykolaiv receive protection commensurate with the sacrifices their population has already made after more than four years of ongoing **war**. **By Maxime Marquette, columnist** ## Columnist's transparency note ### Editorial stance I am not a journalist but a **columnist and analyst**. My expertise lies in observing and analysing the geopolitical, economic and strategic dynamics that shape our world. My work is to take political strategies apart, to understand global economic movements, to put the decisions of international actors in context and to offer analytical perspectives on the changes that are redefining our societies. I do not claim the cold objectivity of traditional journalism, which stops at reporting facts. **I claim analytical clarity**, rigorous interpretation and a deep understanding of the complex issues that concern us all. My role is to give meaning to the facts, to place them in their historical and strategic context, and to offer a critical reading of events. ### Method and sources This text keeps the basic distinction between **verified facts and interpretive analysis**. The rule never changes: a factual claim is published only when a verifiable source supports it, and the sources this article actually used are listed under **Sources**, never here. **Primary source families** used by the publication, when the story has them: official statements from governments and international institutions, public statements by political leaders, reports from intergovernmental organisations, dispatches from recognised international news agencies. **Secondary source families**: specialised publications, internationally recognised news media, analyses from established research institutions, reports from industry organisations. When an article cites statistical, economic or geopolitical data, it comes from the institutions that produce it (intergovernmental organisations, central banks, national statistics offices), and the exact institution is named under **Sources**. ### Nature of the analysis The analyses, interpretations and perspectives in the analytical sections of this article are a **critical, contextual synthesis** based on the information available, the trends observed and the expert comments cited in the sources consulted. My role is to interpret these facts, to set them in the context of today's geopolitical and economic dynamics, and to give them a coherent meaning within the larger story of the changes shaping our time. These analyses reflect expertise built through continuous observation of international affairs and an understanding of the strategic mechanisms that drive global actors. This article describes a documented state of affairs on its publication date, not a prediction: later developments may shift its outlook. No update is promised in advance; when an article is corrected or completed, the change is dated in the text. ## Sources ### Primary sources - [Russians attack agricultural company in Mykolaiv Oblast, killing one — Ukrainska Pravda, July 2, 2026](https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2026/07/02/8042046/) - [In Mykolaiv region a man died due to a UAV strike — UNN, July 2, 2026](https://unn.ua/en/news/in-mykolaiv-region-a-man-died-due-to-a-uav-strike-there-are-wounded-ova) - [Daily reports from the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces — Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, July 2026](https://mod.gov.ua/en) ### Secondary sources - Coverage of Russian attacks on Ukrainian regions — Army Inform, July 2026 - [Ongoing coverage of the war in Ukraine — Kyiv Post, July 2026](https://www.kyivpost.com/) - [Analysis and reporting on the Russo-Ukrainian war — Euromaidan Press, July 2026](https://euromaidanpress.com/) --- Source: Maxime Marquette, MadMax. When citing, name the author and link https://mad-max.co/en/article/lettre-ouverte-lettre-ouverte-a-vitaliy-kim-gouverneur-de-mykolaiv-apres-la-mort-dun-chauffeur-de-66-ans