Arrival in a Nation on Fumes

I stepped off the train at Kyiv Central Station in late April 2022 into a city running on fumes. Fuel was scarce; what little existed was rationed for ambulances, military convoys, and a narrow category of essential vehicles. Some gas stations had shuttered altogether, their pumps wrapped in tape, their forecourts abandoned. In that brittle atmosphere, mobility was a currency. My friend Hardy, a former SOCOM engineer, had found a workaround: a young Ukrainian with a Tesla. I’ve never been a devotee of electric cars, but in those days, utility trumped taste. The quiet hum of that battery-powered sedan was, improbably, a lifeline. It was also my first experience of Elon Musk’s technology altering my odds of survival. I’d once owned Tesla stock back i

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