A quick warning.
There are curse words that are unbeeped in today's episode of the show.
If you prefer a beeped version, you can find that at our website, thisamericanlife.org from WBEZ Chicago, it's this American Life.
I'm Eric Glass.
Back in the winter of 2022, in the days and weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine, there's one thing that most Ukrainians and most Russians had in common.
They both insisted that war was impossible or was unbelievable.
One reason it was unbelievable is that many families, possibly most families on either side of the border have family members in the other country.
Many Russians have some Ukrainian roots.
Many Ukrainians have spent time living in Russia.
Even President Zelensky, like many Ukrainians, grew up speaking Russian.
He had a career in Russia, starred in Russian movies, performed comedy for Russian audiences.
Even Putin's seen him perform, called him a good actor years ago.
So when Russians did start the war, it wasn't just on the battlefield or in the airspace over Ukrainian cities.
It was within families.
This is something I had no idea about, the way a conflict like this might take normal disagreements between people and blow them up.
When you think about it, like, of course, right.
It was the writer Masha Gessen who explained this to me.
Masha was born in Moscow, moved to the United States as a teenager with their family.
They moved back to Russia as an adult to work as a journalist.
They've written several books now, currently a staff writer at the New Yorker.