Celebrating Ukraine: From the Russian Border to Tallinn’s Freedom Square
About the author: Francesca Verville’24 is an FSI Global Policy Intern with the International Centre for Defence and Security. She is currently a Ford Dorsey Master’s in International Policy studnet at Stanford University.
Nearly two weeks ago, I celebrated Ukraine’s Independence Day on 24 August in Tallinn’s Freedom Square (Estonian: Vabaduse Väljak). In addition to a parade through the capital’s Old Town, a concert was being put on with various Estonian and Ukrainian artists: from the former Ukrainian Eurovision champion, Ruslana, to a Ukrainian-Canadian married couple who had met at Euromaidan, the Balaklava Blues. Each artist or band made a point to sing about or announce the bravery of the Ukrainian people, and the concert went well over its allotted time, with the final song being the Ukrainian national anthem.
Just two days before this celebration of Ukrainian national pride, I stood 150 meters from the Russian border in the Estonian town of Narva. More specifically, I was standing atop the Hermann Castle, a medieval fortress that stands directly across from the opposing Russian Ivangorod Fortress. It was a surreal feeling, looking out over a swath of Russian territory: I had assumed it was an inaccessible bloc of the world, yet I watched pedestrians casually stroll across the bridge connecting the two countries across the Narva River. In some ways, it was a picture of normalcy — a cloudy, calm August day in a border town.
This picture of an unaffected, “normal” Russia was a jarring juxtaposition to the fierce resolve and raw pain I saw in the faces of my Ukrainian friends and the performers in Freedom Square on the 24th. As I left the concert that night, Tetiana, a close friend and incredible Ukrainian scholar from the city of Odesa, spoke about how she hoped her parents, still in Odesa, could have a barbecue to celebrate the day. She has not been able to return home since the invasion began. In a sense, she has been denied “normalcy” in her life.
I am in a unique place: the war is inescapable in this part of the world. Even my internship at the International Center for Defense and Security (ICDS), while having the stated aim of analyzing Baltic air defense, has instead been, unsurprisingly, centered on the Russian air war in Ukraine. I know that I will never be able to fully understand the depth of my Ukrainian friends and colleagues’ pain. However, I have reflected on my perspective on the war that I maintained just three months ago in the United States and realized it was one of relative indifference and de-sensitized empathy. As an international policy student specializing in international security, Russia’s war on Ukraine was just another topic to dissect in class or an example to bring up in a research paper.
I come away from this internship with a deeper connection to the Ukrainian people that Russia’s war has impacted and a stronger calling to support the Ukrainian defense effort in any way possible. I am ashamed that it took a visit to this region of proximity to the Russian aggressor to provoke this rejection of passive acceptance, but I recognize that this emotional and physical understanding is a privilege. I know that my perspective is one that I should persistently and passionately share within my international security and policy classes and with my fellow Stanford colleagues.
A final thought regarding this reflection–as a cadet at the Air Force Academy, I ~happily memorized many quotes as a freshman; however, as I write this, one from the philosopher John Stuart Mill comes to mind: “War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things: the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth a war, is much worse.” As domestic politics in the United States continually throw sustained aid to Ukraine into question, and public figures such as Elon Musk thoughtlessly suggest casual “truces,” I am again reminded of the necessity to continue to speak out to those around me that this a war of tragedy, but one that is necessary to preserve many priceless and beautiful things; but namely, the survival and dignity of the Ukrainian people and their territory.
Slava Ukraini! Heroiam Slava! (Ukrainian: Слава Україні! Героям слава! English: Glory to Ukraine: Glory to the heroes!)
