This episode is dedicated to Odessa, a truly incredible city. It remains Ukraine’s key seaside resort after the country lost Crimea. It’s also a strategic location in the ongoing war. I planned to go there myself, but there’s no way they would let me into Ukraine. So I drove as close as I could get to Odessa. There’s about 50 km between Odessa and Moldova–Ukraine border, and 180 km separate Odessa and Chișinău. I couldn’t go to Odessa since I’m a citizen of Russia. No Russians are allowed to cross the border. Luckily, Volodya Karmanov, a blogger from Moldova, stepped in. He was to go with a cameraman, but the last minute his mother asked him not to go, and he couldn’t say no. And this is Volodya Karmanov’s report from Odessa.