Katherina was born in the city famous for and named after the man who founded the first academical institution on the territory of Ukraine — Ostrog Academy. Later, Katherina moved from her hometown to Kyiv. But she soon got tired of the hectic beat of big city life. So, she started looking for a peaceful place to live. Then, she discovered Georgia — a country where people value life and know how to enjoy its measured pace. In Georgia, Katherina got a job in marketing at an American company. However, time passed by, and she started realizing how badly she missed her home and the people from there.

“Two years ago, I realized I met very few Ukrainians while in Georgia. I missed how we celebrated our traditional holidays at home, singing songs… My good friend, who also moved to Georgia from the Donetsk area, was a choirmaster, so she started a group of amateur singers to sing Ukrainian songs. I was thrilled they did such a great thing!” says Katherina.

After the singing group, there were a few other initiatives: in collaboration with an embassy, Katherina dubbed audio guides into Ukrainian for several Georgian museums. Meanwhile, she was appointed an executive at the NGO “Svitanok” (Sunrise). The organization worked on the realization of some projects for Ukrainians.

“I felt confused after the appointment because it was COVID time. Besides, the Ukrainian community in Georgia needed to be more cohesive, and the necessity of Ukraine representation was not on the agenda. I knew that many Ukrainians lived in Georgia, but only a few expressed the wish to be involved in the public sector.

In those years, Ukrainians mainly came to Georgia with two aims: either business or travel. Permanent residents were primarily people who moved to the country in the 80s. Thus, it was no youth community. Katherina approached this as an opportunity for development.

A place where the Ukrainian community in Georgia was born

Today, “Svitanok” is an active world community member. The organization is registered at the Ukrainian World Congress of Ukrainian Youth Organisation — a division of the Ukrainian World Congress — the largest Ukrainian association in the world. One of the “Svitanok” employees represents the Ukrainian youth community at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and counsels the President on youth issues.

“We joined our efforts with the Ukrainian government, and at the same time, we liaised with the international community,” says Katherina. “First of all, we deal with the people in the age group from 18 to 35. For now, our main tasks involve developing the Ukrainian community in Georgia; supporting Ukrainian initiatives; Ukraine advocacy; and supporting active Ukrainian youth.

Many new people joined our community since the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. We only have a few regular staff — usually, it is a group of 8 to 15 people. However, even being such a tiny group, we have successfully organized demonstrations involving up to 10 thousand people. During the last year, our organization made at least ten events.” Katherina mentioned a procession on Independence Day and campaigns on “Ukraine Defender Day” and “Ukraine Unity Day.”

“Georgian police did not restrict our demonstrations by any means. On the contrary, they often assisted in the events. Sadly, however, no Georgian government officials joined the demonstrations. We assume they might still have been there as guests. Georgian officials nevertheless took part in the Ukraine-Georgia forum initiated to discuss the issue of cooperation between the two countries. However, those officials were experts only”.

“Svitanok” actively works with the local oppositional media. Pro-governmental media avoid any cooperation. Kate works on the distribution of Ukrainian content. At the beginning of the war, she assisted media outlets in creating coverage. She says due to the awareness-raising work, Georgians know their way around the history and even the geography of Ukraine now.

Kaleidoscope of help

“Svitanok” is also engaged with humanitarian aid. Together with the Humanitarian Aid Centre, they coordinated donation drop-off points, where people could bring clothes and medicine, which were then sent to Ukraine. Businesses often offered their help. Katherina remembers a call from a milk producer who suggested donating 5 tonnes of milk. After half a year of the war, many buses packed with humanitarian aid left Georgia and went to Ukraine. At first, more than one bus left each week. Beyond that, Georgian post offices waived any charges for packages going to Ukraine. Georgians also helped a lot with accommodation. About 1500 refugees were provided with a place to live.

“Our partner company from Georgia suggested providing accommodation, but they needed help with coordination. We had people who helped refugees leave occupied areas to get to their new places to live. We met people at the Russia-Gorgia border because people who were trying to get out of the cities on the frontline — Mariupol, Kherson, Mykolaiv — often left for Russia first through the occupied territories. I met people who told me terrible stories. The first family I met was from Mariupol, and I will probably remember them till the end of my days.

Later, during the summer, when all urgent issues were settled, people started experiencing difficulties while looking for a job. So, volunteers created a social media channel — GamarJob, to share vacancies that didn’t require language knowledge. Today, the channel has over 1500 followers, and it is one of the most widely used resources for job-hunting among Ukrainians in Georgia. I, together with two other volunteers, have personally found jobs for 300 people. And we worked without any sponsorship. We were unbelievably happy about what we achieved”, says Katherina.

“After the employment problem was sorted out, we also moved to work on the Ukraine representation. Firstly, we were engaging young people to join leadership camps. Nobody sponsored our work; we were fuelled by pure enthusiasm. Now, we have financial support from several international Georgian organizations. What we plan to do now — is an educational program for Ukrainian and Georgian youth.

The tragic events of the war turned the lives of many Ukrainians upside down. Conversely, it made people pull themselves together and develop a national identity. Ukrainians who lived in Georgia before 2022 didn’t actively participate in the community’s public life. The majority spoke Russian. However, now most people have a spark and feel attached to their motherland.

“Compared with 2018, the Ukrainian Georgia community has become more visible and capable. There are more projects for Ukrainians and about Ukrainians now. We have built a strong and reliable community.The foundation is laid, so I want to start more extensive projects that people will remember. My goal is to make Ukraine visible in Georgia. Ukraine advocacy will remain my priority as long as I work for this organization or maybe even for the rest of my life”, says Katherina.

The story was gathered, written and translated by the team of volunteers at The Ukrainian View.

«How Ukrainians build their ethnic community in Georgia» was originally published in The Ukrainian View on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The sunflower is Ukraine’s National Flower but not just because it is beautiful to behold. This flower is a national symbol and has been for many years. Ukraine is the top world producer of sunflower oil which is a staple of the local diet. If you have never had extra virgin sunflower oil on a salad, you are truly missing out on a culinary experience. I am going to Gaffigan on you here: Wait, why’s he talking about sunflowers? I thought this article was about stolen Ukrainian Saints? St. John of Tobolsk is famous for writing a book called the Heliotropion (Latin) Helianthus (Greek) which are translated as “The Sunflower”. This work is still considered the standard and most prominent one regarding theodicy within the Eastern Orthodox Church. Theodicy basically refers to why God allows the manifestation of evil in the world. Thus, it would almost be required reading for understanding the war on Ukraine.

Tobolsk is a city in Siberia that was conquered in 1582 by Yermal Timofeyevich under Ivan IV Vasilyevich (Ivan the Terrible). Originally, the city was a Tatar city just like Crimea. St. John of Tobolsk was not from Tobolsk. He became known as St. John of Tobolsk only because he was made Metropolitan of Tobolsk in 1711. Siberia is part of the Russian Federation that was acquired by conquest much like many other regions of what is now “Russia”. The Russian Orthodox Church claims St. John of Tobolsk as their own and they elevated him to the level of Saint.

St. John’s original name was (Ivan) John Maximovitch. He was born in the city of Nezhin in 1651. Wikipedia states that the city was located at that time in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Most Russian sources state the John was born in the city of that name in Central Russia or the Russian Empire. If you look at a map, Nezhin is in Ukraine and pronounced as Nizhyn. The city is located in the Chernihiv Oblast (Region) and was originally referred to as Unenezh when it was first mentioned in 1147. In 1147, there was no Russia, in fact there was no Muscovy (Moscow). At that time, the kingdom that existed and ruled was that of Kyivan Rus located in what is now Kyiv, Ukraine. (Maybe we’ll talk about what the Ukrainians refer to as the greatest theft of all history in another post).

Thus, we have established that St. John of Tobolsk was born in what is Ukraine and what originally was Kyivan Rus. St. John of Tobolsk is therefore Ukrainian and not Russian. Maybe you think the case is not strong enough? Ok. We have more evidence to present. John Maximovitch was the eldest of seven sons and was sent to the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy in Kyiv which was established in 1615 as an Orthodox Theological School known as the Kyiv Brotherhood School. Now, the history of the school itself is fascinating but that would just be too much of a digression. A significant link to note is that the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy merged with the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra School in 1632. What’s most important is that John Maximovitch graduated from an academy in Kyiv, Ukraine.

In 1680, John Maximovitch was tonsured a monk at Kyiv Perchesk Lavra (Kyiv Caves Monastery). This monastery was established in 1051 by Anthony of Kyiv or Anthony of the Caves, a monk from Mt. Athos who was also, well Ukrainian, having been born in Chernihiv around 983 A.D. in Kyivan Rus. You may see in the news that the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra is still occupied by monks and clergy associated with the Patriarch of Moscow and that Ukraine is attempting to reclaim it as its own. So, the thieves are still in residence thus making our case stronger concerning St. John of Tobolsk (once a thief, always a thief). St John served in the Pecehersk Lavra for many years before being appointed Bishop\Archimandrite in the Chernihiv Monastery of the Caves. This monastery was also established by St. Anthony of the Kyiv and was originally known as Eletsky or Yelets Monastery. The monastery’s royal founder was Sviatoslav II Yaroslavich, the Grand Prince of Kyiv from 1073 through 1076. Moscow and Russia did not exist when these monasteries were founded.

St. John started his work, The Sunflower” while at the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra and completed it in Chernihiv. He also established a school modeled on Kyiv-Mohyla Academy while serving there. St. John was elevated to the rank of Metropolitan and was sent to Tobolsk in August 1711. He died there on June 10, 1715. Thus, born in Ukraine, served in monasteries for most of his life in Ukraine and spends four years in Russia to become St. John of Tobolsk.

St. John of Tobolsk’s case is just one among so many. A son of Ukraine who is stolen from his homeland and made to be Russian. This is now still occurring here in the War on Ukraine. Children are being taken, indoctrinated in false Russian history and taught that Ukraine does not exist as a country. The thieves of Muscovy have been doing this for some 500 years or more. Does this help you understand why Ukraine is fighting the way it is? Do you see how important it is for Ukraine to retain its cultural, geographical and religious history?

Now, in conclusion, clearly, St. John of Tobolsk is a saint of Ukraine and not Russia. Here is my personal note on the matter. I bought “The Sunflower” at the one-year anniversary mark of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine because Great Lent was about to begin (a time when we do more intensive spiritual reading) and because I wanted to understand why God let this happen to Ukraine. Now, having read about ¾ of the book, I have a better understanding it and I have it from a true son and Saint of Ukraine.

Stealing Ukrainian Saints was originally published in The Ukrainian View on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Lidia’s story about the challenges doctors and staff of the National Specialized Children Hospital Okhmatdyt faced during the war.

“My name is Lidia. I am 22 years old, and I work as a communications officer at the National Specialized Children Hospital — Okhmatdyt. It is the largest children’s hospital in Ukraine. It is also famous as the “last station” in national paediatrics because the hospital accepts young patients with the most severe conditions coming from all over the country. Okhmadyt is a national hospital of the 4th level. It is the highest estimation for national hospitals in Ukraine. We constantly have more than 600 patients in the hospital. These are children from 0 to 18 years old.

From the first day of the war, we accept people with injuries from all parts of Ukraine. When the frontline moved to the Kyiv suburbs, we remained open. We started to take patients not only under 18 but adults as well. Our eldest patient was 83 years old. The youngest one was a 1-month-old girl.

Although shellings have become slightly rarer, we still have lots of work. We adapted. We work calmly, catching up with the schedules and plans. We do not stop doing our job during air raids or when the air alarm goes off. If air alarms start in the early morning, we cancel operations planned for the rest of the day. If the child is already on the table, surgeons proceed with their work. When the air alarm sounds, patients go down to the shelter. In case of mass attacks on Kyiv (as it was on the 1st of October), we move all our patients to the basement, even those dependent on the ALV apparatus.

When the invasion only started, we were living in the basement. We do not suffer from blackouts as much as civils, of course. But, we had cases with short power cuts off in the middle of the operations.

On the 23rd of November, after the massive shelling, we had to carry out the kidney transplantation during the blackout.

The doctors could do nothing else but go on with the surgery because anybody knew when the power would appear again and for how long anaesthesia would continue to work. If a blackout, in the first place, we fix the light supply at the most critical points, such as the operating theatre and intensive care unit.

While working at the hospital, I saw a lot of things I could describe in one word only — horror.

It was HORRIBLE when we started to receive injured people in March in huge quantities. We got children who died not because they couldn’t overcome the illness but only because the Russian killers shot them down. It was so scary because we didn’t even have a chance to try to keep those children alive.

HORROR: when the girl told me that her brother had been shot down, and her mother was screaming in a bloodcurdling voice because her child had died. When wounded people from Bucha and Irpin arrived massively…

HORRIBLY: When amid the curfew, at night, we got a call from the Kyiv region, and they said they were taking injured children to our hospital.

There were three ambulances: two children with wounds in their heads and one — in his chest. I was awake to film this all because it was a war crime. Everyone in the hospital was awake waiting: neurosurgeons, intensivists, and anesthesiologists.

Then we got a call from one ambulance — the child was dead. They were not bringing it to the hospital anymore. They were driving now straight to the mortuary. Then, we got the same message from the second ambulance — the child had died.

We phoned the third ambulance to check on them, and paramedics said the Russians did not allow them to go through the checkpoint.

HORROR: A seven-year-old girl showed me a notebook where she had been drawing letters to her mother to the sky. And her mother had been blown into pieces in front of the girl’s eyes when a Russian rocket had hit their house. Another 14-year-old boy gave me an interview and said that his father had been shot down, right in front of him».

Recently, a girl named Zhenya visited us. A rocket hit her house. Her father died, but her mother was saved from under the rubble. It was a long time since it happened, about 4 to 5 months, but those people still slept in the basement every night because they could not sleep in a bed anymore.

However, looking back, I can say that the first 50 days of the war were the most difficult.

We lived in the hospital because we did not know when the war would end. Like the doctors, I just concentrated on doing my job because I knew it needed to be done. After some time, everything became easier, or maybe we just got used to it. Now, I focus on the fact that I am still in a better position than others. I do not work in Bakhmut, for example, where the shellings are constant, and there are ALWAYS many injured… I live for now and have been living during all that time in quite a safe place. Yes, I have seen a lot of things, but now I understand that there are much scarier stories.

If I see a five-year-old child who doesn’t have half of his back, they see a problem they need to fix quickly.

Doctors are very concentrated and calm in critical moments. They are very professional, and they own the most up-to-date techniques. At the beginning of the war, if they realized they needed more knowledge, they read lots of literature and various international researches on war injuries. Our doctors are very dedicated — they took their families abroad and returned home to work at Okhmatdyt.

I filmed everything I saw during this war and edited a film about how the hospital operated at the beginning of the invasion. I haven’t watched it for five months because I just couldn’t. Sometimes I start watching it and then quit it.

I can’t watch it till the end. Back then, we seemed to stand on adrenaline. We believed we would give it some time, give or take, and the war would end. We thought we would be back to normal life in three weeks.

For now, Okhmatdyt has probably gone through its most difficult period. Now, we are waiting for the girl from Kherson who has lost her eye. I need to meet a boy whose leg may be amputated, and last week I interviewed a boy from Kherson with an amputated arm. So, we still have lots of work waiting for us ahead…

We work hard to make children feel like children have to feel.

Our youngest patients, who have been staying in Okhmatdyt for a long time, have already gotten used to the air alarm. We were organizing the Residence of St. Nicholas in the hospital during the Christmas holidays. The event lasted three days. We had another Ukrainian celebrity visiting us every half an hour — it was like a real Disneyland. We have patriotic concerts every Friday, regular masterclasses, and beauty and health days. All these events add to the optimism, help to lift the mood and work as a psychological “release” for all our patients, doctors and employees,” says Lidia.

The story was gathered, written and translated by the team of volunteers at The Ukrainian View.

All the photos were provided by Lidia.

«Doctors carried out kidney transplantation during the blackout, while surgeries under shellings… was originally published in The Ukrainian View on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The story of Nastya, a student from Kyiv, about her life during russian occupation. Nastya spent a month in occupied Bucha with her family and told us about all the horrors of what later became known in the world press as the Bucha massacre.

“I learned to read Taro cards out of boredom, became friends with my neighbours and not allowed myself to become depressed for not a single day”, a student from Bucha says about how she survived the occupation.

I am 21 years old. At 1,5 years I moved from Kyiv to Bucha. That was the city in which I grew up. I study journalism and PR and work as an editor at the local group. We were working on this project hard, and it was scaling quickly. That was one of the reasons I stayed in town and went through all that happened later. I felt I had to stay and help as a journalist, volunteer, and be with my close ones. Everything began for us on the 24th of February. That was the first day of the war.

Eight days earlier, on the 16th of February, my father was rushing around our house at 6 a.m. when the thought crossed my mind that something had happened. In reality, he was only hurrying for work. Fake alarm — thought I with relief.

Before the 24th of February, I monitored the news daily. I watched people preparing for the attack. We are a family of 6: me, my boyfriend, my parents and my grandparents. We had friends in military forces. They said they did not know what might happen, but we were better to get prepared. I was the only person in the family starting to pack a survival kit: a first-aid set and other necessary stuff.

So, on the 24th of February, I was ready.

The beginning

On the first day of the invasion, a phone rang at 6 a.m. My mother broke into our room. “Get up, children! The full-scale war has begun!” she said. I knew what to do. So, at 7 a.m., I was packed and ready to leave for Western Ukraine, where my grandmother lived. I could not leave my parents at home alone, though.

My mother ran her own business. She owned two stores in the local supermarket. My father and brother owned the car service station. When the war began, they went to the workplace immediately to remove all values. Meanwhile, my boyfriend and I prepared the room with the fewest windows and the most solid walls.

In the afternoon, we heard loud explosions and the noise of the plane flying by. I went outside expecting to see a passenger jet when I remembered that the sky above the country was closed for passenger flights. I saw about ten helicopters and two fighter planes in the sky at a low height just over my house.

At the family council, we decided what to do next. We had two houses. One was for my grandparents, and another for me, my boyfriend and my parents. Only one of them had a basement which we could use as shelter. There we spent all our time.

The occupation

I lived on the outskirts, right near the other city called Irpin. Our place was the last in town Russian forces reached. The occupation started on the 4th of March. Before that, there was a fierce battle for the city of Hostomel. We woke up at 6 a.m. because of gunshots down the street. It was when we realized the front line had moved to us. Later that day, we heard tanks parked by our house and stopped breathing. Somebody knocked on the door. My father went outside. Russians wrung his hands and put him down to the ground. They thought he was a military man and raided the house.
Then, my mother went outside because my father wasn’t back for too long. She asked the soldier about her husband. He replied that she had no reason to worry and pointed to my father, who stood among six Russian soldiers and smoked.

Then, my mother came up and spoke to the soldiers in Russian.

“Do not shoot here, please. There are civil people here, and we want to live,” she said.

“We do not shoot and do not kill anybody. We are just staying here. These are people of yours who shoot at us and kill us,” said the soldier.

“We are looking for Nazi and Banderivtsi (members of the fraction of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists back in 1940-s),” said another soldier.

“Nazi?! Here I am, speaking to you in Russian! We lived here peacefully. What for did you come?” said my mother.

I would rather hide away, but my mother was a very courageous woman.

Meanwhile, my father stepped into the house, followed by an 18 years old Russian soldier. He was even younger than me! He told my parents to shelter in the basement because Ukrainian soldiers would use artillery on their division. My mother burst into tears. The soldier got so scared that he started stuttering.

From that moment on, Russian soldiers lived in our house. They kicked down the gates with their APC, parked it by the house and settled as if they were tenants. One day, they hit the entry door so hard that it jammed. After that, they had to get into the house through the window. They searched everywhere and looked in every corner, but we stayed untouched.

Two doors down, neighbours built a two-storey house with a steam bath. Russians were looking for two-storey buildings because, on the first floor, they could put their equipment and fire at the town next to us — Irpin. That house was occupied by a commander. He controlled everything on our street.

The railway separated our area from the city centre. Along that boundary stayed different divisions: Kadyrovtsy (a military organization from Chechnya) from one side and the Pskov division (a division of the Russian Airborne Troops based in Pskov) from the other. The Pskov division was closer to us. They marked their military equipment with a V letter.
Later I discovered, Kadyrovtsy didn’t get along with the National Russian army. For this reason, they stood separately. Kadyrovtsy were robbing houses and taking everything out. Pskov division was not less cruel than Kadyrovtsy. Units changed every week.

Sometimes, we left our house to get fresh air in the backyard. When we heard the burst of artillery fire, we immediately knew whether we should go to the shelter or shots would only pass over.

Russians put their artillery almost in the backyards of houses.

The trenches were so deep that you could shoot, staying on the horse. Soldiers were driving from house to house, looking for the basement where they could hide later. They were scared. They did not know what they would do if Ukrainian soldiers broke through the frontline and entered the town. The majority of soldiers were from 18 to 20 years old. They were like kids. In the evening, when the curfew started, they played improvised football matches with their helmets.

They broke into pharmacies, took out medicine, and then gave it to villagers to treat themselves. They brought boxes of medications. They robbed pharmacies and acted as if that was a charity. Some people had no choice but to take that drugs for their elderly.

On the 10th of March, we found out that there would be a green corridor. My mother went to the soldiers to talk. She put a white bandage over her shoulder (Russians did not allow civils to leave the house without them and also did not allow them to wear black clothes). The most terrifying was that nobody knew what mood soldiers were in that day. My mother was crying and bagging them to let us go. Russians refused and told us other soldiers would gun us down at the next checkpoint. We stayed.

Occupiers did terrible things to the people who tried to resist them. There were seven houses on our streets. Russians knocked on the door of one of them, but people refused to let soldiers in, so they broke down the door and shot down those people. The house was on fire for two days. Into the multi-storey buildings, Russians threw hand bombs, and the ground floor burnt down completely in two days.

There was a woman who lived somewhere nearby. Before the war, she used to walk along our street with her child in a wheelchair. The child had Cerebral Palsy. During the occupation, Russians shot down her husband. The woman and her child are somewhere abroad now. The dead body had been lying untouched for forty days or more because they mined it.
They shot down civils and threw them into the cellars of their own houses.

In the building of a school located in our area, women and children were found. They were raped and then hanged. Pskovski Desant did all these things.

We rarely left the house. We never went out for humanitarian aid. We were outside only if we needed water or to catch fresh air in the backyard. For not a single day during the occupation, I felt depressed because I knew that Ukrainian military forces would reach us one day.

I decided to learn how to read Taro cards to entertain myself. We lived in a tiny place and had quarrels from time to time, but those were such little things.

My second birth and 21th birthday

On the 2nd of April, I had my birthday. I woke up as usual but did not hear any announcements about the location of the Ukrainian army on the radio. That silence frightened me so much.

My boyfriend and I went outside and heard a voice calling for my father.

“Lyosha! Lyosha!” somebody shouted.

A man turned out to be our friend who worked for the intelligence service. Then, we noticed the soldier with the blue bandage over his arm and three cars with the Ukrainian flag and started crying. I can not even explain what happiness that was. Everyone, even my father, was in tears. That day we had two celebrations because I had my 21st birthday in Ukrainian Bucha.

During the occupation, many people were searching for us. Later, I saw all those texts in the chats and cried. In the messengers, numerous people were writing they were searching for someone, but I could never imagine somebody would search for me one day.

Life goes on

A month in occupation has entirely changed my life. I started to value everything I had. We became friends with our neighbours who we had never known before. During the occupation, we cooked food on the stove, washed laundry in the rainwater, and melted snow for water.

We were lucky to have an oven in the house. We could heat the premises. Also, we were fortunate to have a neighbour who knew how to make bread, while we gave her flour. Finally, we were lucky to have our neighbours. We supported each other and had some fun. When Russians did not allow us to cross the road to get water, our neighbour gave us her. We forgot about all the issues we had ever had and became a big family. That was how we survived the occupation.

Later, along the street with the humanitarian aid station, people found many dead bodies. I am so grateful to myself and my parents for our decision to stay home and avoid that station. Every morning I say thanks to God — if there is a God — that I survived. I thank God for my mother escaping the attack, my grandparents having no strokes, heart attacks, or high blood pressure, my father not getting into the house where occupiers killed people, and my boyfriend staying alive.

Now, I never forget to value every tiny moment of my life.

The story was gathered, written and translated by the team of volunteers at The Ukrainian View. Special thanks to Nastya, the main character of this story, for her bravery and spirit to share it with the world.

All the photos were privided by Nastya.

“Now, I never forget to value every tiny moment of my life”. was originally published in The Ukrainian View on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

I travelled home for a visit, after three years away. “I’m going to Ukraine”, — evoked two kinds of reactions from my friends in Australia. One — “You must be excited! Have a grand time!” Another — “Why?…”

My visit was short, I didn’t even experience air raid sirens. “It’s a rarity — to have six full days of quiet!” — my Mum said. But I’d rather I have had that experience. It teaches you something about the reality of death in any given moment, — a reality that Ukrainians take philosophically, or perhaps — matter-of-factly.

I’ve always loved my city, but this time, even my parents got surprised with my non-stop singing praise to Lviv. Truth is, the city changed a lot — for the better. Against the backdrop of the war, the visible growth and vibrancy of Lviv felt special.

My observations from Lviv are just a glimpse. I hope to come again soon, and stay longer… For now, however, here are the three themes of this visit: the risk, the humor and the beauty.

The risk

Assessing risks is counterintuitive. After all, there are only two outcomes — a missile strikes your home or it doesn’t. Putin launches a nuke or he doesn’t. Russian soldiers hit the Zaporizhiia power plant or they don’t.

Assigning a probability to binary events is tricky, and even once assigned, a number makes little sense. If the risk is 20%, it’s not as if you lose your home or loved ones in 20 out of a 100 parallel realities.

Decision-making under risk may be part of the curriculum I teach, but I have no illusions about my own rationality: it’s constrained. My thoughts in the lead-up to the trip oscillated between “Chill — no big deal” to “WTF — 20% chance of a nuclear attack?!”

Thoughts are just thoughts — in my account, they are only meant to illustrate one human grappling with risk assessments. But it helps to recognize that this particular human was very far away from war when thinking those thoughts.

When in Ukraine, this very human forgot all about the risk, the war, and the nuclear blackmail. Apart from one small reminder: a bottle of Potassium Iodide I packed into my purse and carried everywhere, together with a passport and some cash.

The humor

Perhaps I should’ve started my observations with topics less grim than the nuclear risks. I mean, Ukrainians laugh it all off (yes, literally — check out the Ukrainian Twitter, and see for yourself!).

Сергій Ліпко on Twitter: "Із плюсів ядерного удару - Геращенко не встигне викласти фото щоб показати куди прилетіло / Twitter"

Із плюсів ядерного удару - Геращенко не встигне викласти фото щоб показати куди прилетіло

Let me make some more cheerful observations — of how people live, love, and laugh in the face of stress and loss. Don’t forget: Ukrainians are the nation that elected a comic for a president, only to watch him become a charismatic wartime leader.

My first dose of cheer came from the Ukrainian radio, after crossing the Polish border. I love the Ukrainian radio! LvivFM in the background in the car, — and I was instantly up to date on all the latest jokes on the Russian “backward-moving offensive”.

The beauty

Every time I come home, it hits me: Gosh, the streets look like a cover of a fashion magazine! I rave about it for a week or two, half-envious, half-proud. And then — I go shopping ( when in Rome — you know…). Oh well, these days, there’s an excuse — to support the Ukrainian economy.

In all seriousness though, this year I actually paid attention to where each item is produced . And it led to yet another re-discovery: that Ukrainian-made clothes are fashionable, affordable, and well-made.

Final words

Now, I’m in Riga, a city of my University years. Riga surprised me, too — with the abundance of Ukrainian flags and even more abundant spoken Russian. “Riga seems to display a greater number of Ukrainian flags per square meter that Lviv does”, — I jokingly observed to a Latvian friend.

Today, I wandered the streets of Old Riga with a nagging question in mind: what do the Russians in Latvia think of all this? And what do they say they think? A research question for sociologists out there.

P.S. Thanks for reading! I keep my posts free, but here’s a quick way to say thanks — donate to United24 or the KSE Foundation, and #StandWithUkraine! This is the best way to invest in freedom and ensure we live in a safe world.

Three observations from Ukraine was originally published in The Ukrainian View on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Kristina Lew answers this question.

Lew, president of the Foundation to Preserve Ukraine’s Sacral Arts, has conducted several civic education programs in Ukraine and authored two books studying churches in the country, but her most notable work is the foundation. The Foundation to Preserve Ukraine’s Sacral Arts, or FTPUSA for short, is a non-profit that works solely on preserving old Ukrainian churches, religious icons, and additionally supports traditional craftsmen in Ukraine. Many tserkvas, or wooden churches have been worn down by the passage of time with some of Ukraine’s oldest tserkvas being 500 years old. These structures represent the country’s culture and many of them are made from wood found in Ukraine’s Carpathian Mountain range, so it is not surprising that the country has over 2,500 tserkvas. In fact, eight of them are on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. This is why Ukraine’s architecture is unique — Ukraine has the largest number of wooden churches in the world and many of them reflect the communities in which these structures are located. The wooden churches require increased preservation efforts, particularly now, amid the war.

Since February 24, 2022, when the Russian invasion broke out in Ukraine, as many as 180 churches and sacred structures have been destroyed. 60 of them are on UNESCO’S heritage protection list. In Kharkiv, Ukraine, Russian attackers hit many landmarks, most notably, the Freedom Square, a monument made during the Soviet constructivist era which later became a symbol for the country’s independence in 1991.

During this war, Lew and FTPUSA have helped colleagues in Ukraine that assisted restoration projects in the past. Lew and the Foundation were able to provide their colleagues with seed money for their efforts in preserving culture. Because of Lew and the foundation’s seed money, her colleagues in Ukraine have founded the Center to Rescue Cultural Heritage. The center has been able to preserve materials from museums and libraries, namely abstract art, religious art, and historical collections. They have worked with museums across Europe who shipped packing materials such as bubble wrap, scotch tape, and various other materials needed for protecting precious art. These materials were shipped to Warsaw where they were then packed onto rail cars and brought into Lviv.

When materials were emptied in Lviv, many families who were fleeing Ukraine would get onto these rail cars and evacuate out West. In Lviv, groups of preservationists stuffed packing materials into vans, which were then transported to institutions in Chernihiv, Dnipro, Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia. Without a doubt, the Foundation and the Center’s work was crucial in this effort.

Lew additionally highlights Ukraine’s struggle as a nation and mentions how Ukraine has always fought to maintain its national identity throughout history. When it was a part of the Soviet Union, it was robbed of nationalism as well as religion and since its independence in 1991, she continues, the country has had to work hard to define its national character. Her overall goal from her efforts is to preserve the architecture that distinguishes Ukrainian culture and history, because art strengthens Ukrainian identity. Lew has seen this goal met endlessly through the help people have been providing during the war. She sees that everyone is doing their best to help and believes that if everyone continues to do their part, even if it is small, it can go a long way to aiding the most vulnerable.

If you want to hear more about her work amid the war, click here for the full audio interview:

Special thanks to Khristina Lew for providing the interview and Derrick Laurion for providing the photos!

The Threat of War on Ukrainian Culture was originally published in The Ukrainian View on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

“It’s that simple: to go to war is much easier than trying to escape the war.” — Artem Chekh

I am reading a story from the front lines, by Artem Chekh, a Ukrainian writer (and now a soldier), and something inside me cracks open at the raw reality of war.

The reality of death, courage, and duty is much different from the patriotic fast-food we’ve been fed at school. There’s no room for pathos, window-dressing, staged heroism. Death strips us all bare. We emerge pixel-ized.

The blind spots of the Western discourse on Russia and Ukraine

For the last month or so, since returning from Ukraine, I’ve hardly written anything. Not because I’ve faced a sudden writer’s block (for that, one has to be a writer — I’m not). Rather, I’m speechless when I see a widening chasm between the mainstream media’s petty interpretations of the Russia-Ukraine war, and the far-reaching historical consequences this war will have globally, for generations to come.

From Elon Musk’s Russia appeasement to an ever-louder US left, eager to set limits on the US support of Ukraine ahead of the midterm elections, to China’s Xi Jinping tightening the screws on his already tight grip of power (possibly for life), — the configuration at the global chessboard is one of crossroads: between freedom and autocracy, between the rules-based global order and the law of the jungle, between humanity and cold-blooded profiteering.

• How much military aid to send to Ukraine?

Republicans are likely to win majority in the upcoming US midterm elections, which calls into question the extent of the future US military aid. The Republican party has been sending mixed signals on how much aid to send to Ukraine, with some far-right commentators openly parroting the Russian narrative that “Russia is actually fighting the West / NATO”.

The Republican argument for scaling down the support for Ukraine, — on the basis of fiscal frugality, — is misguided. Economically, the US spends just 0.25% of GDP on the aid to Ukraine (for comparison, Estonia spends 1% of GDP). Politically, scaling back Ukraine’s support package serves neither US national interests, nor the global interest of political and economic stability.

The GOP is also ignoring the plain cause-and-effect relation: weaker Ukraine means emboldened totalitarian regimes — from Russia to Iran to China, and almost a century of lost progress towards human rights and greater global stability.

The right answer to “How much military aid to send to Ukraine” is simple: “As much as it takes to restore the integrity of Ukraine’s borders.” Any other answer would undermine the commitment to the very global order the democratic world stands for.

• How to avert a nuclear war?

This past month, there’s been an awful lot of know-it-all opining on “what we should or shouldn’t do” to avert an all-out war between the nuclear powers. A simplistic assertion by Elon Musk, and others without any background on history of Ukraine and Russia, international relations, or game theory—is that averting WW III is a matter of conceding occupied Ukraine’s territories to Russia. This assertion is wrong.

Giving in to nuclear blackmail makes nuclear war much more likely. It would significantly increase the chance of any of the other nuclear powers taking advantage of their nuclear status to achieve their political aims. It would also encourage non-nuclear states to develop nuclear weapons for deterrence. Ultimately, it would open the Pandora’s box of global nuclear proliferation.

History is a series of “repeated games” — a game theory lingo for facing the same strategic decision multiple times, as opposed to a “one-shot” game, in which counterparts interact once only. However much Putin would like to scare the world into believing this is a one-shot game, — it’s not. That’s why for the more militarily powerful Western allies, it’s irrational to give in to nuclear blackmail by a militarily weaker Russia.

Russia threatens to use nukes against Ukraine, not against the Western allies. A likely Western response would be a non-nuclear one (one can successfully use conventional weapons to “take out every Russian conventional force on the battlefield in Ukraine and also in Crimea and every ship in the Black Sea”).

Common sense — and its mathematically rigorous counterpart, game theory — suggest that Russian threats are primarily a psychological weapon. Giving in to these threats is neither rational nor peace-forming.

Timothy Snyder on Twitter: "1/3. The last time around, selling out the multinational east European democracy brought world war. pic.twitter.com/I5u4sFeOE3 / Twitter"

1/3. The last time around, selling out the multinational east European democracy brought world war. pic.twitter.com/I5u4sFeOE3

• Why is Ukraine our problem?

Against the backdrop of increasingly polarised US and European politics, it’s perhaps not surprising to hear pro-Russian arguments from both the far-right and far-left. The often-cited reason against increasing the military aid to Ukraine is simply “we’ve got domestic problems to take care of”. Inflation, for one, is top of mind in any developed country right now.

The irony, of course, is that Russia’s war in Ukraine is a major driver of the very thing western voters are so weary of — the rising prices of food and fuel. Worse still, dozens of developing countries are at risk of hunger after Russia’s recent withdrawal from the Black Sea grain trade deal.

The twisted logic in “just stop the war, regardless of the cost to Ukraine” — is that it assumes a long list of Russia-generated problems will simply evaporate once Ukraine surrenders. If one thinks cheap Russian energy will materialise the minute Ukraine is sold out by the allies, one has to revisit the history of two decades of Russian geopolitical adventures — from Caucasus to Transnistria. Russian imperial adventurism is far from limited to Ukraine. Failing to “tame the bear” now, Europe will have to deal with an unlimited supply of geopolitical and energy trouble for decades to come.

Should I look beyond food and fuel in my list of reasons to support Ukraine? I’m hardly convinced that world leaders would act out of humanitarian, legal, or moral obligation. Still, let me present these more high-flying arguments in brief.

• Why is Ukraine our problem? Three further arguments

Most western politicking on Ukraine overlooks the dire reality on the ground. Everyone in Ukraine — from Lviv to Zaporizhzhia — would have experienced living without electricity, heat, and water since October 10th. Russia has been destroying the Ukrainian energy system on a daily basis. Meanwhile, civilians have been targeted by Russian missiles programmers since the very start of the war.

Euromaidan Press on Twitter: "Kyiv in the twilight Due to Russia's attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure Ukrainians experience regular rolling blackouts to save electricity.📷Serhiy Ristenko pic.twitter.com/rQXnNIKdKi / Twitter"

Kyiv in the twilight Due to Russia's attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure Ukrainians experience regular rolling blackouts to save electricity.📷Serhiy Ristenko pic.twitter.com/rQXnNIKdKi

A cynical observer might argue that it’s human nature — to overlook the moral obligations to strangers far away, and favour helping those close to us. The problem with this argument, of course, is that morality and ethics are universal, and geographically blind.

And finally, there is the legal argument. It’s in the infamous Budapest memorandum. In 1994, Ukraine gave up its (third largest in the world) nuclear arsenal in exchange for security guarantees from Russia (the irony!), United Kingdom, and the United States. Among other things, the Memorandum prohibits the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States from threatening or using military force or economic coercion against Ukraine.

Persistence: an under-appreciated force in history

This war has made me a keen student of history. History has taught me to put my faith in persistence rather than in chance.

Ukrainians will fight on. We fight to live, not to merely survive.

P.S. Thanks for reading! I keep my posts free, but here’s a quick way to say thanks — donate to Return Alive Foundation, United24 or the KSE Foundation, and #StandWithUkraine! This is the best way to invest in freedom and ensure we live in a safe world.

Why we fight: Ukraine, Russia, and the future world order was originally published in The Ukrainian View on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The drumbeats of war were growing ever louder and stronger as we passed through Christmas, New Year’s, marching toward the Lenten Fast. They beat and they beat, the enemy was at the gates. The US Department of State told us to get out as they fled from their embassy in Kyiv. We watched as other embassies in our neighborhood left which we witnessed as we walked our dogs, the Swedes and last, the Austrians. Next, the missiles fell, and the tanks rolled in. Artillery fire was constant with the random short bursts of small arms fire.

The smithy lit his fire, and something began to be forged. Hotter and hotter as it grew stronger with each blast of the enemy. A weapon within began to take shape made from American metal. Fear of death always lingered but did not rule. Steely resolve as the Ukrainians repelled an overwhelming enemy. Air raid sirens wailed, yet we went on. The ground reverberated with missile strikes. A constant boom of fighting not so far away. The weapon grew stronger, but it is one that, once forged, must be sharpened, and kept clean constantly. Battles sometimes come about, and it gets nicked but does not break.

Blue and yellow began to flow through our veins. If we were going to bleed, these are the colors that would pour forth from our wounds or death blows. We sang “Oh, the Red Viburnum in the Meadow” whether we knew the meaning of the words or not. We stood in the Cathedral of St. Volodymyr as the air raids continued and lit our candles, said our prayers, made our Confessions, took Communion, and bowed our heads to the icons and holy men that fed our spirits, kept our souls clean and ready for death. But death has not come. The weapon within stays powerful and strong. Our bodies, minds, souls all are wounded but strength, resolve, fortitude, perseverance, and faith drive us on.

The Battle of Kyiv was only the first test. We stood our ground then, along with so many others. We did not waiver, we did not falter, we did not run, and we never lost faith. Soon enough, that battle was over. Spring flowers gave way to the heat of summer. We went to banya, and barbecued on the Dnipro River as the sun warmed our bodies. Soon enough, the winds of Autumn came and so did the missile attacks. This time, we lost power and Internet. Our means of income was interrupted and we had to leave our beloved Kyiv but not our Ukraine. A long train ride to an unknown city where now we roam the streets and cafes.

Ah, my raven haired one, my Peace-Renown of Zakhar Berkut fame. How gorgeous she is with her sinewy arms, green eyes of her Ukrainian roots. Now I know from whence her strength and depth come from, her love of freedom and free-roaming nature. It is from deep within her blood that her Ukrainian rises, boils and does not turn away from a fight. My druzhina, my back-up in battle, my foxhole buddy and partner. We stayed because of her and because of the Marine buried deep within me. Our symbol now the trident, our flag now the blue sky and golden fields of wheat or sunflowers below.

We have been forged together as Ukrainians, her in spirit and blood, me in spirit. Our souls soar with every victory, our tears flow with every death, but we continue just like these brave Cossacks, Hutsuls, Crimeans and all the others. One day, maybe they will make us one of them. Will we have earned it? Could we have done more? These are questions that cannot be answered now. In our souls, we will be one with them and of them even if there is no paper that says it is so. Slava Ukraina! Our beloved new country. On to victory! And then, we will have a party unlike the planet earth has ever seen! We are Ukrainian Patriots forged from American metal by this war.

Ukrainian Patriots Forged from American Metal was originally published in The Ukrainian View on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

President Zelensky announced in his nightly address on December 1, 2022 that Ukraine was declaring its “Spiritual Independence” which is targeted mainly at the Russian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate (ROC-MP). The decision was made after a meeting of the Ukraine National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) chaired by President Zelensky with Secretary Oleksiy Danilov having responsibility for day-to-day management and decisions (If you want to see how it is organized and run, check Wikipedia). There are scholars and experts who can give a much more detailed history including all the nuances of what this issue entails. The objective of this article is to lay it out as simply as possible so that the English-speaking world has a basic understanding of the issues and facts. The writer is in no way affiliated with any US, Ukrainian governments or other institutions but is an Orthodox Christian.

The Eastern Orthodox Church is enigmatic in its spirituality and rituals. However, it is rather clear and democratic in its canonical laws with recorded history of meetings and decisions going back to its establishment in Jerusalem under the Apostles. Officially, Orthodoxy was recognized by Constantine the Great with the Constantine and Licinius’s Edict of Milan in 313 A.D. This took place in Byzantium which became Constantinople and is now Istanbul. St. Andrew-the-First-Called had established the See of Byzantium in 38 A.D. when he visited the city. St. Andrew in his travels throughout the region is said to have sailed up the Dnipro River and visited the location that is now Kyiv, blessing the land that is now Ukraine from a hill overlooking the river. However, Christianity would not make great inroads into Slavic lands until 864 A.D. in Bulgaria and 988 A.D. in Kyivan Rus. From here we will go to a timeline to keep it simple.

Late 950’s A.D. Olga of Kyiv while serving as Regent (first female ruler of Kyiv) travels to Constantinople and is formally baptized (reports show she was possibly baptized in Kyiv in 955A.D.) into the Eastern Orthodox Church by Emperor Constantine VII and the Patriarch of Constantinople (Unnamed). Olga of Kyiv becomes officially the first Christian monarch. Her son, Sviatoslav for who she serves as Regent refuses to convert to Christianity and maintains his Slavic paganism while agreeing not to persecute those who do convert. Olga builds churches in Kyiv, Pskov (now Russia) and other locations. Kyivan Rus lands extend from Crimea to Kyiv and as far north as the Baltic Sea encompassing almost all of what is now Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia, along with what is now Novgorod, St. Petersburg and Moscow. Moscovy (Moscow) does not yet exist as place other than back woods wilderness.

988 A.D. Volodymyr the Great (grandson of Olga of Kyiv), a pagan ruler, converts to Christianity and is baptized in Chersonesos in Crimea (wait, Crimea is Russian?). Volodymyr marries Princess Anna, daughter of Emperor Basil II of Constantinople becoming the first “barbarian” to marry into the great monarchy of Byzantium. In 991, Volodymyr establishes the city of Belgorod (now in Russia). Moscovy (Moscow) does not yet exist as place other than back woods wilderness.

1019 A.D. through 1054 A.D. Yaroslav the Wise, son of Volodymyr the Great takes control of Kyivan Rus after some bloody business with his brothers. He is Eastern Orthodox Christian and oversees what is known as the “Golden Age” of Kyivan Rus. Yaroslav the Wise marries Princess Ingegerd Olofsdotter (Anna), daughter of King Olaf of Sweden (wait, Ukraine is part of Russia or Europe?). Yaroslav expands the empire into parts of what is now Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. He the builds the famous St. Sophia’s Cathedral in Kyiv (still standing) along with many other monasteries and churches on lands that are now Belarus and Russia. Yaroslav’s daughter, Elisiv of Kyiv marries King Harald III of Norway becoming Queen Consort. Anastasia of Kyiv, daughter of Yaroslav the Wise and Queen Ingegered marries King Andrew the White of Hungary and becomes Queen Consort. Muscovy Who? Still doesn’t exist.

1051 A.D. Anne of Kyiv also known as Anna Yaroslavna, the youngest daughter of Yaroslav the Wise and Queen Ingegerd marries King Henry I of France and becomes Queen of France. Queen Anne rules France as Regent upon the death of King Henry I in 1060. Wait, she didn’t have to covert of Catholicism to marry a French king? Well, Catholicism as we know it, did not exist as it was still part of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Yes, the Patriarch of Rome existed but he was the same as all the other Patriarchs with the exception of the Patriarch of Constantinople who is known as the “First, among equals”. Wait! The Ukrainians are Russians or Europeans, I am confused? The daughters of Yaroslav the Wise oversaw and ruled or held partial authority over vast swathes of Europe yet they are Russian? Where is Muscovy? I don’t know, think it’s a pile of mud over there somewhere.

1054 A.D. Yaroslav the Wise dies. The Great Schism happens when Romes excommunicates the Eastern Orthodox Church via a Papal Bull and Constantinople does the same with Rome. This doesn’t really have a major effect for a number of years but builds over time. It is just a note in the history of Christianity in Ukraine but later the effects will come into play. Muscovy what? I don’t know, Ruslan, never heard of it.

1054–1169 A.D.. This was the decline of Kyivan Rus but the Eastern Orthodox Church still held prominence throughout the lands. Kyiv’s power declined while its offshoot, the Republic of Novgorod grew. Novgorod was primarily ruled by the Archbishop of the Diocese of Novgorod who was subordinate to Kyiv even after its decline. Muscovy? Yea, in 1147 A.D. we heard about it. I think it’s a village on the river but can’t tell you much more than that.

1200’s A.D. Bad times for Kyiv. The Fourth Crusade sacked Constantinople. The Mongols were taking over everything. Kyivan Rus had split into constituent parts and was ruled by various other European Principalities. Orthodox Christianity was still the predominant faith. Bulgaria had been granted autocephaly in 919 A.D. with its own Patriarch while the larger and more powerful Kyivan Rus never received one even though it was the center of Orthodoxy of the Slavic lands for some 300 years. How’d that happen? Nobody can explain it other than Kyivan Rus which technically, got the short end of the stick.

1263 A.D. The founding of the Grand Duchy of Muscovy (Moscow) by Daniel I, son of Alexander Nevsky, who did it to create a principality and payer of taxes to the Mongol Empire so well, keeo those Mongols out of Novgorod, son, ok? Alexander Yaroslavich Nevsky was Grand Prince of Kyiv and Prince of Novgorod which was created by Kyivan Rus. Let’s look at the line. Kyivan Rus creates Novgorod who then creates the Grand Duchy of Moscow. You see why Ukraine is suffering now? You see why Moscow is trying to destroy it?

1547 A.D. Nothing great happened from the fall and decline of Kyivan Rus until now. The Orthodox Church still existed. Roman Catholics made inroads into Western Ukraine. Western Europe was rising in power and influence. Ivan IV declared himself Tsar of All Rus which later became Russia which was derived from the original Kyivan Rus. Ivan IV is called “Ivan the Great” and as “Ivan the Terrible” in other parts of the world. Killed his son and prayed in the new churches of Muscovy that he built. So, Rus or what is Russia is actually part of Kyivan Rus thus Russia is not really Russia but Ukraine (confusing huh?).

1589 A.D. Wikipedia seems to be wrong because they state that the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC-MP) was established by St. Andrew-the-Apostle in where, Kyiv! Wait, they go on to say that the Christianization of the Rus in Kyiv is where it all started. The ROC-MP is given autocephaly and the title of Patriarchy because well, they bribed the Ecumenical Patriarch who was short on cash at the moment. You can’t make this mess up!

We have traveled nearly through 600 years of history already and now you can see the origins of this quagmire. This is the ancient history of why President Zelensky has declared “Spiritual Independence. The Ukrainians have been stepped on, cast aside, starved by Stalin, burnt in ovens by Hitler or shot in ravines and well, they’ve had enough. Big powers said give up your nukes and you’ll be free. Nope! Now, in a war, there are still churches in Ukraine that are run and financed by the ROC-MP that are spreading information that Ukraine (Kyivan Rus) never existed and must be terminated. Yes! Right now, on the territory of Ukraine there are priests, nuns, monks, and others telling poor, cold, hungry Ukrainians that they have no right to exist nor does their state. Old grandmas are paying for candles and giving money from their Ukrainian pensions to these institutions while being told Ukraine should not exist. The influence of these spiritual leaders upon the people is monumental because of the ingrained influence of Orthodox Christianity over these lands for more than a millennium.

The years from 1600 A.D. on are also filled with how Ukraine has been suppressed culturally, spiritually, economically, and politically. Do you get the picture as to why Ukraine now claims and needs Spiritual Independence? Do you get why the Ukrainians are headstrong in their desire to take back all their lands? Look, if they wanted to make a historical case, the Ukrainians could claim sovereignty over most of Eastern Europe. They don’t want that. They just want what was theirs since 1991 and they are just done with Russian influence in all spheres of life. The crimes go deep and could fill volumes of scholarly books. Please investigate further if you want to know more.

Slava Ukraina!

Why President Zelensky Declared Spiritual Independence was originally published in The Ukrainian View on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Until February 24, I had worked as a waiter in Kherson and had been a part-time motion designer at the same time. On February 24, I got a phone call from a friend. Her parents live near Crimea. Roughly speaking, their village is on the border of Crimea and the Kherson region. She said, “It has begun.”

At first I did not understand what exactly had begun? It was around 5 in the morning. Then I heard that she was hysterical. I went outside and saw that Chornobaivka Airport was on fire, I had never seen such a fire before. I opened the news — indeed, the war has begun.

I called my parents, they lived with my sister and her husband near Skadovsk, in the village of Ukrainka. They did not know what to do. They did not want to leave right away and said that as soon as it got hot, they would leave immediately.

The first month was very stressful. My sister has a child, it wasn’t even one year old at that time. There was no food or diapers, everything was sold out, it was difficult for them to even find some food. A month passed like this, then everything stabilized a little. Products from Crimea began to appear, as far as I understood. It was calm in the parents’ village until June. The only thing was that there were problems with the Internet and connection. My dad is quite an active person, a volunteer and a military reservist, so I was very worried about him all the time.

Everything was more difficult in Kherson. My friend and I went out once a month and looked for places to buy food. During the period of living in the occupation, I realized that being a vegan is quite possible, there was no meat at all. I lost a lot of weight, about 12 kg. I also learned to cook 22 dishes from only potatoes.

At the beginning of May, billboards began to appear in Kherson that Kherson is a city with a “Russian history”. I began to notice that some of them were covered in paint, but not all of them. I found ordinary light bulbs in the house, unscrewed them, and filled them with paint and eggs. My friend and I went to the center, it was risky. However, we threw paint at 3 billboards and almost got caught. It was a good feeling that we had done something.

I published a lot of pro-Ukrainian things, and my Instagram is open. I was aware that if not today, then tomorrow they will come for me. They started coming for my friends and they simply disappeared, no one could contact them.

There was no work, I lived on savings. I set Easter as the date when something would need to change. I thought that if the war would last so long, I would have to move somewhere. I was also afraid that many acquaintances had disappeared.

When I started looking for options to leave, all possible ways were closed. For a month, I had been monitoring the groups that had information about departure. I started telling my parents that it was time to leave, because we had been waiting for 3 months. They told me that it was calmer in their village, so they didn’t want to.

On June 20, I was able to contact the carrier and we agreed that we would leave on the 14th. It wasn’t free, I paid $700 for one person. Roughly speaking, I was traveling with one bag, and it contained my whole life, everything valuable that could be sold. I stayed in a hostel for a week and then looked for an apartment. When I found an apartment, I started looking for a job.

In the meantime, a local gauleiter appeared in the parents’ village. No one knew him, except that he was a relative of some woman who once lived there a long time ago. He walked with two guards, Russians, they were armed with assault rifles. There were Russians who looked like homeless people: ragged, dirty. And those two were probably FSB officers, because they seemed to have just come out of a military store: quality weapons, quality uniforms.

It started with the school. The occupiers called the principal, and this is my wonderful first teacher. She made something incredible out of the school. A physics teacher, actually a tractor driver, was appointed a new principal. He loved and loves everything Russian, it was noticeable even when I was in school. All employees of the school were told, if they didn’t not support it, they should leave.

My sister decided to leave on August 29. She packed her things and went with my friends in 3 cars, they had the opportunity to take more things. In order not to be interrogated at the checkpoints, they emphasized that there was a child. They stood in line to leave for four days and immediately went to Ternopil, because Zaporizhzhia was being shelled.

Parents decided to stay. They said that they did not hold on to material things, but they had been working for the house all their lives. In fact, the construction had finished just before the war. My dad is also a farmer, he has fields and makes a living from it.

One evening I had a video call with my parents, because the Internet appeared, albeit Russian. I was so happy to finally see them. The next morning, my sister called and said that dad had been kidnapped.

The day before, we laughed that the Russians had forgotten that he was a patriot. But he was kidnapped. My mother didn’t want to say anything to me or my sister. However, when a person goes missing, a rumor spreads throughout the village, somebody told my sister.

About 20 people, professional soldiers, not those homeless people, came to our neighborhood. They started shouting, “Kovalenko, come out, are you here?” The man who lived there said that he was not Kovalenko, and they started hitting him in the stomach. His wife said that Kovalenko lived in a neighboring house, that is, in ours…

They arrived at my parents’ house, but my dad had heard those screams. He had 2 phones, one of which he used to transmit information to the armed forces. So the first thing he did was go and hide it in the hay. He came out, they were already at the door, talking to my mother. My father is also a hunter, so they wanted to check the rifle and the documents. Those who stayed with my mother said, “You are well off, I see you have such cool wallpaper, when I am well off, I will have the same for myself.”

When my mom went outside, she saw dad being dragged to the car. Before that he was hit. She asked where he was being dragged, and they answered, “We’ll talk, and, if he’s lucky, let him go.” She heard the sound of tape from the car and realized that father was being tied up.

In the morning, she went to the military administration, asked what to do, where my father was. She was told that no one knew and that she should wait for a few days.

Dad returned in the evening, however, he could barely speak, he was scared and shocked. The Russians knew everything: that he was a volunteer, that he went to military training, that in the first days of the war he organized a patrol in our village. My godfather, with whom I do not communicate, supported Russia and betrayed my dad.

The father was thrown out behind a checkpoint in Skadovsk, and it is 20 km from the village to Skadovsk. His phone was taken away, his documents were returned. They said that if he wanted to live, he should leave. He was forced to apologize to this local gauleiter for his pro-Ukrainian views, he was threatened. Dad agreed with everything.

He was walking to the village, beaten, and then his friends gave him a ride. At home, the parents began to pack quickly. It just so happened that there was a power outage that night. There is a grandmother and her husband who live across the street from my parents. For them, the USSR is forever. They supported Russia and were watching my parents while they were running around at night with a candle to pack what they had earned in 20 years. No one went to sleep that night. At about 4 am, mom and dad drove out into the field so he wouldn’t be taken again, and there was a car at the corner, following them. The Russians wanted my dad to leave. We were very lucky that they didn’t want to kill him.

My parents stood in the field until 6 in the morning, and then left the city. My sister gave them a good idea. To explain why they were leaving, they took my nephew’s belongings, which were left there: a children’s bicycle, a small bath. On the way out, they said that they were going to see their daughter because the baby was born.

The next morning they were already in Zaporizhzhia. Then they waited for my grandmother, she lived in a nearby village. My godmother put her on a train that was transporting people from the occupied territories. Together, they all came to see me in Kyiv.

Dad didn’t talk about it openly, but until the last day of the occupation, he transferred data to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which motivated him to stay. He did not know if anyone else in the village was helping us, he was our “eyes” there. I also transferred data in Kherson, it was nice to do something useful.

My father had never cried, but when he saw me in Kyiv, he did. I understood that something terrible had been happening to him.

Now, when we learned about the liberation of Kherson, we cried tears of joy. Now we are waiting for the liberation of our village, so we monitor the news around the clock.

My aunt in Nova Kakhovka has already started celebrating. She said that she would personally expel the Russians, but most of my acquaintances have not contacted me yet.

How the people of Kherson helped the Armed Forces of Ukraine during the occupation was originally published in The Ukrainian View on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.