Is The Newest Cellular Device- Samsung S23 Ultra Availability In Kharkiv Three Days Before For Sale In The United States A Show Of Resilience Or A Show Of Too Much Normalcy?

In the Nikolsky Mall on Pushkinska Street in Kharkiv, the second-largest city in Ukraine, is one of several retail stores offering cellular devices. No surprise.

On 14 February 2023 (Valentine’s Day), this retail store began offering the Samsung S23 Ultra device which in the United States was not released for sale until 17 February 2023. The price for the version with 512GB is 61,999.00 hryvnya which equates to US$1,678.30.

• That the newest cellular device is available in the city which was the first to be impacted on 24 February 2022 by the armed forces of the Russian Federation is a demonstration of resilience. Its availability is also an example of a messaging challenge- that the Russian Federation-Ukraine war is not all encompassing, all consuming, and all disrupting. So while there is a war, there is also a non-war. When the non-war becomes too visible, it can be the source of questions as to level of commitment necessary to the government of Ukraine and to the people of Ukraine.

Before recently re-opening its front entrance which had been severely damaged by projectiles delivered by the armed forces of the Russian Federation, customers used a rear entrance. 

• On 24 February 2022, the armed forces of the Russian Federation invaded and further invaded the territory of Ukraine in what Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation (2000-2008 and 2012- ), defined as a Special Military Operation [SMO] then on 22 December 2022 he redefined as a war.  The initial invasion by the armed forces of the Russian Federation was in part from the territory of the Republic of Belarus.   

• The war between the Russian Federation and Ukraine did not commence on 24 February 2022.  The roots began their trajectories on 20 February 2014 when the armed forces of the Russian Federation invaded the Crimean Peninsula and the area known as the Donbas Region (Donetsk Oblast and Luhansk Oblast).