I was born in Kyiv, Ukraine, on May 9, 1963. Like many other Jewish families at the time, we left the Soviet Union in 1974 because of rabid antisemitism. For example, only 1.5% of medical school students could be Jewish (3% for engineers). The hazing in the military was notorious, especially for Jews. To put it simply: if you were Jewish, you were a second-class citizen. We travelled through Vienna and Rome, and after five months on the road, we landed in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1975. We didn’t know anything about St. Louis, except that Mark Twain came from there (not exactly true, because he came from Hannibal, Missouri). Still, this lovely Midwestern town became our new home.

In a few years, my parents passed all the exams to qualify to practice medicine in the U.S. (they were both psychiatrists). It was an extraordinary accomplishment, especially considering that they had to learn regular English and medical English (more akin to Latin). Then came internship, residency, and all the challenges that entailed for a middle-aged couple from Kyiv.
It was in St. Louis that I received a B.A. in English language and literature from University of Missouri and a J.D. from Washington University School of Law. In 1988 I moved to Washington, D.C., to work in one of the largest law firms (Hogan & Hartson, now Hogan Lovells). The experience was invaluable, but short-lived, because the Soviet Union broke up into separate countries in 1991. That’s when I quit Hogan & Hartson and moved to Kyiv to set up my own law firm in October, 1991.

There were two considerations. First, I did not want to end up like many partners, who dedicated their lives to billing thousands of hours and supervising junior associates before they retired and had a heart attack (or cancer). Second, Ukraine was open for business, and I was the only foreign lawyer in the nation the size of France, ready to assist all foreign clients who were about to enter the market. All the biggest multi-national companies and foreign embassies became my clients, simply because I spoke fluent English.

Sure, I faced a few problems along the way. In fact, I had people come to kill me two times. The first time they were drug addicts (heroin), who thought I would sponsor them. They were wrong. When I complained to Sergei, they all disappeared (the cops took them away, never to be seen again). The second time was much more serious: the notorious Savlohov brigades came around. Fortunately, one of my newfound friends (who happened to be the Minister of Foreign Economic Relations) let me borrow Sasha, his bodyguard, to “speak on my behalf” for a measly $500 fee.

Sasha was part of the Alfa unit, anti-terrorist division of the SBU (formerly known as KGB). Before that, he fought in Afghanistan, and returned unscathed, without a scratch. He was a rare fighter, trained as a sniper and in hand-to-hand combat. At the time, Ukraine implemented a so-called “clean hands campaign,” which allowed armed government employees to shoot the bandits on sight without any consequences. Naturally, the racketeers avoided me like a plague after Sasha’s little conversation with them.

As life would have it, many of my clients faced the same problem with the local bandits: protection racket. Fortunately, having gone through the unpleasant experience myself, I had just the solution: Sasha. I estimated the monetary value of this legal service to be $5,000 in cash, and all the clients gladly paid the fee. Sasha got his $500, and I kept the rest. Everyone was happy, until my ex-wife asked me, “aren’t you afraid that you’re a short, pudgy Jew from America, who is sending government killers to scare the bandits?” That’s when it occurred to me what I was doing, but it was too late: by that time I was already involved in this lucrative business for more than two years, so I continued without worrying about the consequences.

Very lucrative. All the embassies, who were our clients, would refer their companies, like KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Electricite de France, Gas de France, Philips, among others. Per U.S. Ambassador’s request, my firm registered the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine, and I was the legal counsel as well as board member. That’s how many distinguished American companies, such as Westinghouse, Honeywell, Hewlett Packard, Master Card, also became my clients. Life was good.

My streak of good luck, based on hard work, continued until Covid arrived, and clients stopped flying into Kyiv. All projects slowed down, but I was still hopeful that it would all pass soon. Then russia invaded Ukraine, and all foreign investment came to an abrupt end. This is where we are today: daily sirens, warning us about incoming missiles and drones.

To learn more about my law practice, please see www.frishberg.com

Unlike most foreigners I never left Kyiv, not even when the russian tanks came close our house. My wife and I live near Brovary, about half an hour drive from where the russians were firing in our direction. Her parents, who live in Kyiv, refused to leave, which meant that she also refused to go. What kind of a man would I be if I ran away, leaving them behind? What would you do?

So we bought guns, lots of guns (an AR15 with 5 clips of 40 bullets and 2 clips of 20 bullets, a pump shot gun, two revolvers, two semi-automatics) and plenty of ammunition. I even bought a WWII helmet from a souvenir stall on Andreevsky Spusk, just in case. We were preparing to kill the marauders (gangs of robbers), not to confront the russian army. Then we stocked our freezer with meats and vegetables, and waited for the barbarians to arrive. Fortunately, our village was not overrun, all due to our territorial defense guys. Looking back on it, we were very lucky, unlike the people in Butcha, Gostomel, Irpen and other suburbs around Kyiv. I can’t imagine what it’s like living in Mariupol, Kherson, Kharkiv, Odessa.

We still have sirens every day, but we don’t pay much attention to them anymore. Every day the russians are sending missiles and drones to blow up civilian targets: residential buildings, hospitals, kindergartens. Just the other day they killed 21 people and injured 7 more in Odessa. The Red Cross and United Nations are nowhere to be found; they are on putin’s side (like the Pope, the moral voice of Christianity). Perversion of morality, I call it.

The guarantees of Ukraine’s sovereignty in exchange for giving up nuclear weapons, contained in the Budapest memorandum that was signed by the U.S., Britain and Russia, turned out to be worthless. Still, I am certain that Ukraine will prevail, because the other option is our death. We have nothing left to lose. Glory to Ukraine!