War, sanctions, and President Vladimir Putin’s pariah status on the world stage are hitting Russians right where it hurts: their love lives.

It was just six years ago that Moscow hosted the finals of the soccer World Cup—the most-watched sporting event on the planet—and it felt like a buzzing global city with visitors from all corners of the Earth. The dating scene in Moscow for the month of the tournament was explosive and Tinder was the hub. The number of Tinder couples jumped by 66 percent during the first week, with largest number of users coming to Russia from the U.S., the U.K., and Germany.

That was an era which already feels long forgotten in Moscow.

Hundreds of Western companies, including Tinder, have since left Russia thanks to Putin’s illegal war in Ukraine, leaving former customers devastated and reliant on inferior knock-off versions.

Meanwhile, Tinder is thriving in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, where people—exhausted from violence and uncertainty—need it more than ever.

The hotspots are around the central avenue of Khreschatyk, Golden Gates, and at bars and restaurants around the historical Pechersk neighborhood.

A happy couple in their early forties told The Daily Beast that they were grateful to Tinder. “It gave us sexual freedom, which is priceless in our age,” 41-year-old Svitlana said. “Normally, I suggest we meet at cafes, but I think men don’t like to pay every time—they feel used and say they prefer to meet in parks.”

Indeed, many lovers can be seen in Kyiv’s blooming parks this spring. After two years of air defense alerts and explosions, it still looks like the romantic and free city it has been since Ukraine’s declared independence from the collapsing Soviet Union in 1991.

Vitali Klitschko, the mayor of Kyiv and former world heavyweight boxing champion, recently told The Daily........

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