Voice of Ukrainian: What Is Going on in Ukraine and Why?
The last months were challenging for Ukraine, its people, and also for the countries that support Ukraine in its struggle against Russia. These events are already referred to as the Russo-Ukrainian crisis, one of the most intense since the Cold War. 100,000 Russian troops massed near the Ukrainian border in October and November 2021 are perceived as a threat of the potential invasion of Russia into Ukraine. Russia requests Ukraine not to join NATO and NATO to reduce its presence in Eastern Europe. In this article, I will present the Ukrainian perspective on this issue.
Background
Tensions between Russian and Ukrainian nations did not come from anywhere. For hundreds of years, the Ukrainian nation was colonized and suppressed by Russia. First, by Russian Empire in which Ukrainian culture and language were actually legally banned, then by the USSR that sent Ukrainian fighters for freedom to labor camps (the Gulag). Indeed, in 1863 the Minister of Internal Affairs of the Russian Empire signed the decree that banned many publications in the Ukrainian language. Further, in 1876 Russian Emperor Alexander II signed the Ems Ukaz that banned the use of the Ukrainian language in print and staging of plays or lectures. Not to mention numerous other cases of the suppression of the Ukrainian nation on the part of the Russian Empire.
The conquest of Ukraine by Bolsheviks (a faction founded by Vladimir Lenin that seized power in the Russian Empire, inaugurating the Soviet regime) was also marked by a struggle for Ukrainian independence. For a certain period of time (1917–1920), Ukraine gained its independence and declared the Ukrainian People’s Republic (UPR). However, the Bolshevik Red Army entered Ukraine and conquered it gradually despite the resistance of the local population (i.e. Army of the UPR, Kholodny Yar Republic, etc.). Thus, the power in Ukraine was seized by Communists and the country became Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. In the Soviet Union, Ukrainian dissidents, writers, poets, artists, and politicians that stood up against imperialism and human rights violations were either sentenced to death or sent to labor camps or even mental hospitals. Indeed, tens or even hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians (as well as representatives of other nations conquered by the USSR) suffered due to their willingness for their country to be independent of the Communists. Furthermore, Terror-Famine organized by Stalin’s regime in Soviet Ukraine from 1932 to 1933 killed millions of Ukrainians.
After the Soviet Union collapsed, the Ukrainian nation has realized its right to self-determination. At the Ukrainian independence referendum held in 1991, more than 90% of Ukrainians voted for the independence of the country. However, Russia did not forget about its imperialistic ambitions. Russian president, Vladimir Putin insists that Russian and Ukrainian nations are actually one nation. He even wrote an article titled ‘On the historical unity of Russians and Ukrainians’. What is wrong with this claim? I hope this article will answer the question (at least to some extent).
The Revolution of Dignity, Crimea and Russo-Ukrainian War
In 1993, the American political scientist Samuel P. Huntington published an article titled ‘The Clash of Civilizations?’ in which he developed the idea that future wars would be fought not between countries, but between cultures. According to Huntington, there is a clash of Western and Orthodox civilizations on Ukrainian territory. This clash was vividly revealed during the Revolution of Dignity in 2013–2014 and events that happened later. Let me remind you that the Revolution started from the refusal of the then-president of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych to sign an association agreement with the European Union. Instead, Yanukovych and his government declared the intention to establish closer ties to Russia and the Eurasian Economic Union. Numerous Ukrainians protested against this decision. The protests were further fueled due to the violent dispersal of peaceful protesters on Independence Square (Maidan) on the night of November 30, 2013.
After the violence against peaceful protesters most of whom were students, the scope of the rebellion widened. From that time, Ukrainian Revolution was not just about the association with the EU, it was about the civilizational choice. Ukrainians declared their intention to no longer tolerate any violations against their dignity and rights. At least 100 Ukrainians — young and elder — were killed at the heart of Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, in their struggle against police brutality, corruption of the then Ukrainian government, and abuse of power on the part of Viktor Yanukovych and other members of the government. The center of Kyiv turned into a battlefield, however, protesters have won. Yanukovych left Ukraine in panic. Since that time, the rebellion became known as the Revolution of Dignity.
Little did we know that the fight against Yanukovych was only the beginning of Ukraine’s struggle for independence from Russia and its imperialism. Shortly after Ukrainians mourned the victims of the revolution, Putin sent Russian troops to Crimea. He lied to all the world by denying the presence of the Russian military in Crimea. However, eventually, Putin recognized the installation of the pro-Russian government in Crimea that further conducted the so-called referendum on the Crimean status. According to the results of the illegal referendum held at Russian gunpoint, Crimea was declared as Russian territory. It should be noted that a large part of the population of Crimea protested against the Russian invasion. However, these Ukrainians were arrested and sent to jail by the self-declared government and militia of Crimea. The widespread claims of Russia about Crimea that was annexed without any violence are false. In particular, during the annexation, two Ukrainian military officers were shot by Russians. They both had wives and little kids. Thus, with the violence and lies, Crimea was annexed by Russia.
Russia is also the country that was required to respect the territorial integrity of Ukraine (including Crimea) and refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of Ukraine, according to the Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances signed by Russia, the UK, and the US in 1994. As a result of this Memorandum, Ukraine gave up its nuclear weapons in response to the security assurance of Russia, the UK, and the United States. By the annexation of Crimea, Russia breached not only international law but also violated its obligations under the Budapest Memorandum. Furthermore, the lack of security assurance on the part of Russia encourages modern Ukraine to actually apply to join NATO.
The situation in Crimea nowadays is very troubling. The widespread breach of human rights is documented by numerous international human rights organizations. The number of political prisoners in Crimea exceeds 100 individuals (taking into account that some of them were released by Russia in terms of the prisoners' exchange). It should be noted that political prisoners in territories controlled by Russia are not arrested, they basically are kidnapped with sacks on their heads and further tortured by Russians and their security servicemen. For example, recently ‘arrested’ Crimean Tatar Nariman Jalal that is to be sentenced to 15 years in a Russian prison was questioned by FSB that put a sack on his head.
Another political prisoner, 63-years-old Oleh Prykhodko, a Ukrainian activist who lived in Crimea and took a strongly negative view of Russia’s annexation of the peninsula was sentenced to five years in a strict regime penal colony. As well as numerous other prisoners, Oleh does not receive medical care and his relatives express concerns that he will not survive in prison. A great number of political prisoners in Crimea are Crimean Tatars —the indigenous people of Crimea that were forcefully moved from the peninsula by Stalin’s regime, returned to Crimea after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and are currently suppressed by the occupational forces.
The war, however, did not end with Crimea. Instead, weakened post-revolutionary Ukraine was also attacked from the East. In a range of Ukrainian cities, armed terrorists supported by Russia seized the power and began to wage war against Ukraine. Some cities like Odesa, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, and Dnipro withstood against pro-Russian terrorists. However, some other cities including Donetsk and Luhansk did not. With numerous victims among pro-Ukrainian forces, these cities were conquered by terrorists and they proclaimed the establishment of two quasi-states in the eastern Ukrainian oblast of Donetsk and Luhansk, namely Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) and Luhansk People’s Republic (LNR). It should be noted that the leaders of these terrorist groups are all Russian citizens. Ukrainian forces aimed to stop the terrorists, however, they were not ready for the war and were weakened by the previous corrupted governments. Ukrainian troops lacked sufficient military equipment and weapon. Nonetheless, thousands of Ukrainians joined volunteer units to protect their country. Thus, despite numerous casualties, Ukrainians stopped pro-Russian terrorists. Since September 2014, the war was attempted to be resolved several times, however, the violence was not stopped.
One of the most tragic murders conducted by DNR and LNR is the shoot-down of Malaysia Airlines passenger flight MH17 on 17 July 2014. All 283 passengers and 15 crew of MH17 died. This incident is the deadliest airliner shoot-down to date. The culprits of the incident are currently under criminal prosecution. Russia is also taken to the European Court of Human Rights for “its role in the downing” of Flight MH17. Let me remind you that the MH17 was shot down with the use of a Buk surface-to-air missile originating from the 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade of the Russian Federation that was transported from Russia on the day of the crash. So, the case of MH17 is evidence of the arms supply of terrorists on the part of Russia.
Tragic murders on the part of terrorists include the violent murder of Volodymyr Rybak — a Ukrainian politician, representative of the Horlivka city council — after he was trying to raise the Ukrainian flag in his native city Horlivka, Ukraine. Military crimes of DNR and LNR include the breach of the Third Geneva Convention “relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War”. In particular, the leader of the pro-Russian battalion fighting in Donbas known as ‘Motorola’ confirmed that he himself killed 15 Ukrainian prisoners of war. The aforementioned cases are only some examples of what is going on in Ukrainian territories temporarily occupied by terrorists. This is a vivid illustration of the absolute neglect of any human rights on the territories controlled by DNR and LNR.
Yes, after decades of the rule of corrupted governments, Ukrainians were armed far worse than Russian and pro-Russian forces. We also did not expect that the decision of the Ukrainians to move away from Russian influence will incite Russian military aggression (to say the least, Ukraine did not attack Russia). No one was ready for this, to be honest. Russian aggression was perceived as a betrayal by most people in Ukraine. So, Ukrainians have seen the real face of Russian imperialism. In the past, Russia always claimed that our nations are brotherly. In reality, Putin, as well as his predecessors, only used these rhetorics to cover their imperialistic intentions. The real face of Russia inspired more and more Ukrainians to move away from Russian influence. For example, before the aggression, the number of Ukrainians that wanted Ukraine to join NATO was only 18%. After the aggression, this number reached almost 50% in 2014. Nowadays, with Russian troops near the Ukrainian border, nearly 60% of Ukrainians want our country to join NATO.
Why mention all this? For me, it is an illustration of what we, Ukrainians, are fighting for. First, we fight for our independence. Ukraine is an independent state that has the right to take its own decisions. Ukrainians do not want to be patronized by Russia. Second, the situation in temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, as well as in Russia itself, is an illustration of what Ukrainians fought against during the Revolution of Dignity. Power abuse and human rights violations are unacceptable for us, Ukrainians. We gradually build our civil society in order for Ukraine to become a real state of justice. In contrast, in Russian-controlled territories, human rights are totally neglected, people are not respected, and any political views that oppose ‘Putinism’ are persecuted (for example, in Russia, a teen was sentenced to five years in prison for an alleged plan to target the Federal Security Service (FSB) building created in a computer game). Ukrainians have made a different civilizational choice. We cherish our freedom. No wonder the Ukrainian anthem includes the lines ‘We’ll lay down our souls and bodies to attain our freedom’.
What now?
Since Russian troops are near the Ukrainian border, thousands (or even tens of thousands) of Ukrainian civilians participate in military training and join the forces of territorial defense in numerous cities of Ukraine. Among these civilians, there are elderly people and teenagers. Armed Forces of Ukraine are currently much stronger than they were in 2014 when Ukrainians were taken by surprise by Russian aggression. Our army is the largest in Europe and ranked 22 of 140 out of the countries in the 2022 global firepower review. Yes, the Russian army is ranked 2 of 140 in this review. However, we already demonstrated that we can fight even with limited resources. And we have a very important thing to fight for — our freedom. We don’t want war. We want peace in our free, independent, and unified Ukraine.
