A War of Independence. On the Bright Side
A fifth article in a series dedicated to my personal memories of events that are related to Russo-Ukrainian War, its new and active phase that started 24.02.2022. Check below for the rest of the articles.
Part 4. On the Bright Side
Kind Citizens of Mohyliv-Podilskyi
My manager talked to me in the morning. It was the only time that he recognized Putin as a dictator, but in his own, beautiful way:
“But still a weird behavior from the good side there they doesn’t open the border for refugees fleeing from a war of a crazy Diktator.
It is an ugly world” — he said (original spelling preserved).
“At least he can see now that Putin went bananas” — I thought. I still hoped to cross the border. I noticed a priest of Orthodox Church going through the line of cars and talking to drivers. As he walked by us, he greeted me and offered warm tea, snacks, biscuits and fruits, free of charge next to the church. He also suggested to use WC inside the church grounds if we needed it. It was kind, but not timely. Good news for Kate though.
The Church was historically active in helping people in most dire circumstances. Often the same circumstances were direct result of policy set by rulers of the Russian Empire. The Church fully supported monarchy since Peter’s reforms and helped maintain status quo, therefore it was targeted by Bolsheviks and Communists after the October Revolution in 1917. Historically, priests of Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchy) were caught adjusting fire for Russia — backed terrorists and otherwise supported Russia in early stages of Russo-Ukrainian war in 2014 which was a stepping stone for me to renounce religion altogether and to change my religious views to theological noncognitivism. However, this particular priest and the church staff were nice, friendly and refused to accept any payment. Somehow, it cheered me up.
Another thing that cheered me up was behavior of one of the drivers ahead. He was aggressively blocking the vehicles trying to bypass the queue. They had to explain to him why they felt privileged compared to the rest of the line. Especially when the local man passing by started swearing to shame the smart asses. “You have flooded my town with your fucking cars, we can’t move around at all! You have shat and pissed around just about every corner of it! Fucking cowards running from war, and now you don’t have the decency to stand in the fucking line like the rest of them! Go fuck yourself!” — ah, I wish you knew Ukrainian curses to appreciate the sound of it. It was almost a lyrical improvisational speech, very emotional and funny. I was a bit blushed when I remembered my earlier morning activity, but I had no choice. No, really.
A sunny and warm day has begun and it cheered me up too. Not even intel obtained from church grannies was going to change that. They told that men are no longer permitted across, even with children. And no bribes were going to change that due to martial law. I shared the info with Oleg, but we decided to try anyway. Goddamn, I thought. He’s less than 3 years from 60, he looks old, he’s no fighter. But I was not worrying for myself anymore. At least it was no longer freezing.
Border guard informed us of 2 possible exceptions that would allow men to cross the border. It was a result of medical examination by military doctor, concluding that the person is unfit for military service. The other option was having a residency in another country (even a temporary one). Needless to say, neither of us got across.
I noticed a car glass repairs sign and I stopped there. The lid covering the wiring next to windshield fell off and would not fit back, so I asked for consultation. Mechanics were cheerful and we started chatting.
“Are you from Kyiv?”
“Yeah, I am. Can you imagine just yesterday I found this lid on the back seat and naked wiring near windshield?”
“Oh, that’s weird, let me take a look…” — mechanic started to assess the situation.
“I tried to cross the border, but they won’t accept men unless they are unfit or have foreign citizenship”
“Well, I have a document proving that I’m unfit, but I see no point in crossing the border. What will I do there? I have everything here, on this side”
“Your town is the most peaceful place we’ve seen along our road anyway, I wouldn’t leave it myself” — I replied.
“Huh, no way! True, we had just a couple air raid alerts and a ton of refugees, but other than that it is peaceful. But I bet you’ll come back to Kyiv real soon”
“I hope I won’t.”
“Why’s that?” — the guy asked, puzzled by my reply
“Because if I do, that would mean that Ukraine is no more.”
“Nah, we’ll win quickly and you’ll come back, you’ll see. We are winning”
“For real? Hmm, I’m not so sure about that, let’s see…”
One of mechanics rigged the lid so that it would close and refused the payment. He was just happy to help us along our journey.
Our friends booked us a place in a hostel in Mukachevo. It was ~600 km from where we were. After refueling with another 20 litres of gas and a litre of engine oil we continued our journey. I asked Kate to read the latest news, but my mom called first.
Courage of Ukrainians
Situation in Cherkasy region was stable, but scary. My mom said that much like in “Groundhog day” movie, her morning started in an identical way. A ballistic missile was flying by in the morning, at around 5 a.m. She was hopeful though and told me a story about hatred of locals towards the invaders. A local woman in Henichesk (southern Ukraine) asked Russian soldiers to take sunflower seeds in their pockets. She wanted sunflowers to draw nutrients from their bodies as they’d eventually end up fertilizing our soil.
Another video depicts locals in Bakhmach (northern Ukraine) trying to stop Russian troops from advancing. That man forcing tank to stop with his bare hands reminded me of Marvel’s Infinity War, when Captain America was trying to stop Thanos’s gauntlet with his bare hands. It showed identical strength of spirit in face of overwhelming odds.
Both Ukrainian Armed Forces and civilians were preparing for a siege of Mariupol (eastern Ukraine) and there were long lines of volunteers to join the territorial defense units in Ternopil (west Ukraine). In all regions of Ukraine all people felt the same: a genocidal total war is waged against independent Ukraine. And we were not about to lose our independence to Russia again.
To give you some context, Ukrainians are not known as militant or violent people. We are Europeans, we do not crave blood. We do not behead other people, we do not gut them, we do not torture them, we do not poison them, we do not shoot them. We just don’t do that shit here. Most of us never held arms and knew of war only from history books, movies and computer games. But in the short time that has passed, all of Ukraine became ready for armed resistance. We were getting ready for the War of Independence.
A Journey to the Edge of the Map
Having booked a place in hostel with help of our friends, we continued our road trip. The weather was warm and pleasant and the landscapes were eye-pleasing. We passed over a hydro power plant on Dniester river, which was heavily guarded by our servicemen. They asked me to stop, but they didn’t care about my driving license. They asked for my and Kate’s personal passports and car passport. They asked where I was heading to and why. I told them I was going to Mukachevo to visit my friends. A serviceman asked to see what was inside my trunk. I opened it revealing cardboard boxes full of clothes. I warned him about my PC, but he noted it was not prohibited to carry one. He inquired about a sock that was drying on top of one of cardboard boxes. I told him that a dog pissed on it, so I washed it and left it to dry. He had a laugh and told us we were free to go.
We refueled shortly after crossing Dniester. The gas station only accepted cash and I was glad to had asked my university friend for some spare cash in exchange for card-2-card transfer back when we separated. Cash was in short supply since the 24th and my friend had to ask strangers in supermarket to pay for them by card to get some cash from them. I was planning on covering as much distance as possible during daytime, so I kept on driving while Kate slept in passenger seat. I have been awake for 36 hours at that point and didn’t feel like sleeping.
If you feel like supporting Ukrainians in some real, concrete way, please visit:
Series:
Part 0. Historical Context. The European Choice
Part 4. On the Bright Side
