By Anna Romandash
On February 24, 2024, it will be two years since Russian full-scale invasion. Yet, the Russian war started much earlier – back in the winter of 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea by sending its “green men” into the peninsula as well as Eastern parts of Ukraine. Back then, Russia denied its involved in the Donbas region. Its misinformation campaign worked – half the world believed in some ludicrous notion of the civil war in Ukraine and that Russia was simply protecting its citizens in our country. Democracies looked away while Ukraine was largely left to its own devices – and had to fight off Russian invasion on its own.
Now, with the full-scale invasion, it’s much harder to look away. Democracies in Europe and beyond proclaimed their unwavering support for Ukraine and provided it with money, arms, as well as welcomed many refugees. Yet, Ukrainian people continue being killed in large numbers, and Russia is able to bomb metropolises in the heart of Europe without any repercussions. More and more I hear how Europeans and Americans are tired of helping Ukraine because they are struggling, too, and more and more I am expected to voice my gratitude for Western support that helps Ukrainians to stay afloat amid the war.
With these thoughts – and this reality before me – I enter the third year of Russian-full scale invasion of my country. I am worried that the empathy and support for Ukraine are so time-limited and so dependent on things at home. I am afraid that the deep slumber-crisis in which many developed democracies find themselves is too strong, and they will not wake up – until it is too late. For now, the narrative has been “Ukraine is fighting because the West is helping it.” But please, look at it from a different perspective. “The West is at peace because Ukrainians are fighting.” The fact that people in Berlin and Paris can complain about inflation as the worst thing happening to them is because they, fortunately, do not have a war within their own borders. This war has not spilled over to the EU – for now. It mesmerizes me how people do not want to understand that. There is no war in Germany, France, or other EU countries because Ukraine is standing – for now. If we fall, you are next. The age of prosperity, freedom, and abundance is over – whether you want to recognize this or not.
This is how I feel as we’re about two mark ten years of the Russian war against Ukraine. One third of my life passed in the shadow of war. My life didn’t change too dramatically in the last year, fortunately for me. I am one of the luckier ones. I am getting more tired – and I sense less support and interest toward my work and Ukraine in general. This is the problem. Many of the media who used to work with me stopped asking for new stories when the Israel-Gaza war reignited. Apparently, only conflict at a time is worthy of people’s attention. I analyze the big statements of some decisionmakers, and I fact-check them – so I see that besides the words, there is little action attached to them. Finally, my patience is running low when I hear more hatred toward Ukrainians – blaming us for instability in the European way of life because for some people, it would be much easier if we just gave up, and they went back to their lives as before.
But I am not a pessimist. While I lost a lot of hope and respect for some people who proved to be cowards in times of crises, I do see a lot of determination among many Ukrainians who chose to remain in Ukraine and do whatever they can for victory. It is this active community that keeps Ukraine afloat, that fights, raises funds, rescues others, and supports one another so we don’t lose our minds.
I don’t wish anyone to experience war. I also understand that unless you experienced it firsthand, it’s hard to relate to those who did.
Many Ukrainians didn’t believe in the full-scale war until it actually happened. Many Europeans refuse to believe that this war will spill to their countries, too – so my recommendation is to learn from this history that we see unveil before our eyes and prepare. Seek your courage, support Ukraine, and face the hard truth – democracy must be protected and fought for. Otherwise, autocracies will crash it.
Anna Romandash is an award-winning journalist from Lviv in Ukraine. Her book “Women of Ukraine: Reportages from the War and Beyond” was published at the end of 2023, in which she collected stories from 33 Ukrainian women and their lives during the war, whom she interviewed between February 2022 and June 2023.
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