Dear Crossing readers,
I am Alexandra Olha Hnativ, a Ukrainian from Lviv, and I lived in Kyiv for 14 years. I hold degrees in Political Science and now work as a consultant in Belgium.
It is a win already
Today is the morning of day #3 (February, 26th) of the Russian invasion in Ukraine, but it feels like eternity already. Many of my friends in Kyiv are already 48 hours without sleep as the city is under attack now, as I write these lines.
However, today it still feels a bit better. I didn’t burst into tears from reading the news headlines as soon as I woke up. That’s because over the night of February 26th, Kyiv as a city managed to fight back the Russian army around it and Ukraine still controls all major strategic territorial points around the country.
This is a huge win for the Ukrainian army already, an army in Europe, in the USA, and, of course, in Russia looked down on. In terms of size, skills, machinery, and other multiple factors of military strength.
But all of them surely didn’t consider the strength of spirit and the sentiment of the Army toward this invasion.
Ukrainians are now working in different positions. Some fighting in the country, some supporting from the outside.
My parents in the Lviv region, the Western city of Ukraine, already host a second group of displaced people who left Kyiv. Some of my friends in Kyiv are staying to work with journalists, with their families, some have left but continue working in their domains.
I go to protests in Brussels with Ukrainian people and other nations supporting us – every day since the invasion has started. Yesterday, February 25th, we were next to NATO headquarters. And now I will head again today on the 25th of February– for the third time.
Our leader is also working extremely well in his position.
President Zelensky is a leader Ukraine needed for a long while. I didn’t vote for him, but I respected the choice of 72% of the people. People used to agree or disagree with him in the past years, but with every other month, year, he showed that his stance on Russia is very firm.
These two days of open war proved: he is a brave leader we even didn’t dream to have. He refused help from the US to flee Kyiv this night, while he knows he is targeted to be killed by Putin.
Did we expect this war?
Did we expect this war? Yes and no.
No, because of hope that the President of Russia still has common sense as leader and politician of his country. No, because we hoped the West, or his internal circle, could stop him.
Yes, because military forces have been gradually built up around the Ukrainian border since spring 2021, reaching now 170,000 of troops.
Yes, because Russia has already attacked us in 2014 by the Crimea Annexation and by supporting pro-Russian rebels in two Eastern regions.
And the last “yes”, comes from our history of Russian leaders feeling they have the ownership of our land backed by their imperialist sentiment. That goes back to 400 years after most of Ukraine’s territory was captured by the Russian Kingdom.
Back then in 1648 Ukraine, the free republic of Cossacks suggested an alliance with the Moscow Kingdom to fight the Polish Kingdom together. Ever since then, this military alliance has transformed into subjugation and denial of Ukrainians as a separate nation.
So, we have known for a long time that Russia does not see us as an independent. And the more distant we became in terms of culture, politics, societal choices, the more Russian resentment toward Ukrainians grew.
What Russia hates most is that we are free-spirited people. This is our DNA.
We fight for our democrat
Our first democratic revolution happened in 2004, the Orange Revolution when President at the time Leonid Kuchma tried to falsify election results in favor of his ally Viktor Yanukovych.
People went on the streets immediately. I, myself, being a student of Political Science in Kyiv, being 19 years old went along with my friends to Maidan to set up our camps. We did what we could as the people of Ukraine. And we won.
Then again in 2013, almost ten years later, we went again on the street when following President Viktor Yanukovych attempted to reverse Ukraine’s foreign policy from European direction toward Russia.
I was also there from day one. It took us three long winter months and hundreds of civilian deaths in Kyiv to make Yanukovych flee the country, on February 22, 2014.
We were happy and hoped that now we can simply go back to building our lives as we want them to be. But, no, Russia decided to capture Crimea as soon as March 2nd, 2014, then followed by setting up unrest in the East.
Ever since then we realized they will not let us go just like that. And years went by as Putin gathered forces, scared of his own people, scared of Europe and the US to dare him in any way.
A message to Taiwan
We are hopeful for the future, but we in Ukraine know that this war may be long and painful. It seems now that we as a country are the only ones not scared to stand up to Putin and fight for our land. But also more countries agreed to support us with weapons and sanctions against Russia as I write this.
At times we feel alone in this fight. But this does not mean we will surrender in any way. We count on humanity to wake up to help us.
Because I believe that with this war Russia is not just protecting itself, as it declares. It threatens all democratic and civilized parts of the globe. It wants to keep its influence in as many countries as possible. It wants the whole world – the EU, USA, Latin America, and all African countries to be afraid of it.
Therefore, I believe Europe should help Ukraine with military force and equipment to fight Russia. It is as simple as stopping a gangster group from a neighboring village, a bully in a classroom, a thief breaking into your house.
The recent issue makes me think of Taiwan.
No country in the world can be bullied like Taiwan is bullied by China or invaded like Ukraine is by Russia.
Our message to Taiwan is equal: do not surrender, stay strong. You have the power to fight an angry giant of China. There are multiple ways to fight, and I encourage you to pick yours.
They all hope for a quick win, but let’s do our best to make it difficult for them.
*For the Chinese version please check: 一名烏克蘭青年的告白：俄羅斯最討厭惡烏克蘭的，就是我們自由的靈魂
Editor: Sylvia Tien
