If you are not a Ukrainian, then who are you? This is the question you can ask yourself if you care. If you care about what’s right then you are probably more Ukrainian than you think, because in the current situation of an all-out Russian military attack on all fronts a country that is nothing if not peaceful, Ukraine is right. It’s that simple.
If you don’ t care, if you have your own worries, live far from Ukraine, not even in Europe and have had your head, heart and soul numbed by all the things that make a modern person indifferent to what counts in humanity, then don’t bother reading further. Words are cheap, we all know. And life is priceless.
But the truth isn’t cheap. It comes at a premium and served best when not dressed up. So here is the naked truth.
First, Ukrainians are not Russians, they are Ukrainians. Yes, many Ukrainians speak Russian, but a lot of people in the world speak English and yet are not American, British, Canadian, Australian, Indian, etc. More importantly, none of the aforementioned peoples are attacking one another with missiles, artillery and assault troops.
If you are a Ukrainian you understand this. You also understand that although Russians and Ukrainians have much in common and could even be considered cousins, certainly fellow Slavs, both being mainly Orthodox Christians, they are not the same people. The English and Germans are neighbors who both speak a Germanic language, but that didn’t prevent two world wars between them.
Second, Ukrainians have never attacked Russia in their thousand-year history as a people, and they certainly had no intention of doing so when Vladimir Putin decided to attack them. In fact, modern Ukraine has never attacked anyone. Before 2014, when Russia first attacked Ukraine and annexed Crimea, most people here were neutral to positive on Russia. Most did not support their country joining Nato either. That was then. Violence has a way of changing people’s views. And when the violence, lies, blackmail and open disdain lasts for almost a decade, these views become as hardened as the people who share them. Ukrainians have become hardened at the hands of their neighbors and fellow Slavs.
Ask any policeman: who is capable of inflicting the most violence on a fellow human being, a family member or a stranger on the street? Crimes of passion (think nasty divorce, which is not a bad analogy for Russian-Ukrainian relations) are some of the bloodiest.
Third, Ukrainians are united. And this applies to eastern Ukraine, western Ukraine, southern Ukraine and northern Ukraine. All of these areas are now under attack and fighting back courageously for their lives. And all of them know they are Ukrainians. Otherwise why would they resist? If you are a Ukrainian, you know this. Rural areas of Luhansk in eastern Ukraine speak Ukrainian as much if not more than people who live in the west Ukrainian city of Lviv. Most rural areas do. As regards the ethnic Russians living in Ukraine, they are as likely to use the same pejorative “Moskali” (or “Russkies”) as ethnic Ukrainians. Why? Because neither likes being pushed around by Moscow.
Number four, and most importantly, you don’t have to be a Ukrainian to know the difference between right and wrong. Russian protesters being arrested around their own country by the hundreds at this very moment understand this. They have a lot to lose. They have already lost a lot, living in a kleptocratic oligarchy under a leader with 19th century imperial ambitions. Many of them or their fellow countrymen have relatives and family in Ukraine. If you don’t know appreciate the importance of family ties, see paragraph two above.
Then go back to the question where we started – who are you? What is right? These are not philosophical questions, as to engage in philosophy at such a time would be feckless and irresponsible. However, it is equally feckless and irresponsible to tune into the violence being perpetrated against Ukraine and then tune out when the reporting gets repetitive. We’ve been seeing everything from Ukrainian beauty queens wielding Kalashinkovs to Hollywood stars showering their support. We’ve also seen serious relief efforts and Western politicians waking up to the realities that exist. Indeed, in the era of prima donna athletes, Ukrainian sportsmen, including top boxers, have joined the army and paid the highest price. Vitaliy Sapylo and Dmytro Martynenko, 21 and 25, respectively, died defending their homeland. Vitaliy played for the Karpaty Lviv youth team and Dmytro played for FC Hostomel, the town where brutal fighting raged in the first days of Russia’s invasion. On March 2 the International Biathlon Union announced the death of former Ukrainian biathlete Yevhen Malyshev from Kharkiv.
Yet there is still resistance to serious sanctions, an understandable aversion to sending troops against the Russian army and a justified fear of starting World War III. Feeling fear is natural, not doing what’s right, not helping a person being unjustly attack is called cowardice. What else can you call it?
Heroism on the other hand is putting oneself at risk to help another in need. And it’s plainly uncomfortable. Many Ukrainians are acting heroically because they are fighting a battle against the odds for the sake of their compatriots, most of whom they’ve never met. What else can you call it but heroism? They could easily capitulate, pretend to be Russians, flee to the West for good. Some are in fact doing this. But many others are not. Some are leaving cozy lives working in nearby countries like Poland and heading to meet the foe. But the heroes stand out because they know who they are – Ukrainians. In an era when war is played out and can be watched on CNN or BBC World, they know what’s right – to defend their neighbors and family from a violent aggressor. It’s an engrained responsibility.
If you are not a Ukrainian, you may well read these words as Ukrainian propaganda or an attempt by some guy to spout his two cents. In fairness, I am not objective, if objective means balancing Russian imperial ambitions against the right of Ukrainians to live peacefully and choose their own leaders. Every aggressor has justification for violence, but that doesn’t mean the violence is justified. What can justify the horrific pictures of lifeless children and obliterated residential areas of the capital and Kharkiv?
Neither am one of the many talking heads you may have been watching in the media, some better informed than others on topics ranging from military tactics to what’s in the mind of Vladimir Putin. As with the endorsements from Hollywood, all support is welcome.
At this time and place in my life, writing these words in the center of Kyiv, which is becoming more unrecognizable by the hour, I feel confident that I can call myself a Ukrainian. My wife is Ukrainian, my two kids are Ukrainian, my neighbors, friends and acquaintance are Ukrainian and so by choice and circumstance I am too. I say this after more than twenty years of being in this country, having lived through and humbly, and at first reluctantly, taken part in two revolutions, and now about to face an assault on the very place where my family and I live.
And like so many of the brave men and women who are sacrificing everything to combat the evil that is military adventurism, I neither seek nor desire any acclaim or benefit from my current position. I simply have to acknowledge what is right and what is wrong. I also have no hate for ordinary Russians, having lived in Russia. And believe it or not, I don’t even want to hate Putin. I simply have to ask myself who I am, and what the right thing to do is.
And if you aren’t by this time bored, dismissive or suspicious by now, please recall the quote of German Pastor Martin Neimoller, who initially supported Adolf Hitler.
First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
Glory to Ukraine and God bless all Ukrainians!
