Kolomak, Kharkiv Oblast. Not making it to Kharkiv city unfortunately.
My bike trip to Russia five(!) years ago is causing a lot of issues. Russian visa in your passport? Massive red flag. Detained for several hours in a local police station yesterday. Military personnel and the police are super paranoid. It is a frontline region after all, tense atmosphere, countless army checkpoints on the roads, massive police presence. Nobody at the station could really believe I was just fucking around on a bicycle for fun. "I want to see Ukraine" wasn't good enough a reason for my "purpose of visit". They seriously considered the possibility I was a spy or saboteur of sorts. One of the policemen asked if I was seeing a psychiatrist after realizing I probably really am just a retard from Germany. Also said he'd send me to Kupyansk after a night in a "besplatny (free) hostel" (prison) lol. Another one asked somewhat seriously if I wanted to fight for Ukraine. He seemed somewhat impressed.
They went through my phone, panniers, interrogated me, took a mugshot of me and the bike, consulted their superiors on the phone. They even took photos of the photos I took on my phone and sent them to the higher-ups to check if my photos constituted sensible material. The soldier who flagged me down initially said bus stops are "strategically relevant objects". I took photos of some of them. I'm pretty sure he wasn't joking. In fact, I was told taking photos of anything at all in Ukrainian regions bordering is strictly prohibited.
Eventually they let me go, but they said if military personnel or the police in a different municipality of the Oblast check my passport I'd have to expect similar treatment again. So I noped the fuck out. I'm in Poltava now. The region doesn't border Russia so things should be somewhat more relaxed here.
>>1984692I'm a German NEET on autismbux.
