By Olesia Tytarenko
Once a week I take Spanish classes. My teacher is a native speaker, who lives in a Spanish-speaking country, “consumes” local news, and knows a lot about geopolitics and international relations. Every Sunday we begin our lesson by discussing the situation in Ukraine, the political turmoil in Latin America, and the global battles of the superpowers. One day, after asking “how are things going?” and answering “as usual. We’re hanging in there,” my teacher disarmed me. “If Ukraine loses, will you become part of Russia?”, she asked.
As a journalist, I understand that such a question has the right to exist. At the same time, I remember that a year ago, when we first met, my teacher was absolutely convinced of Ukraine’s victory and rightness. Should I stop the conversation? Stop communicating? Look for a new teacher? Learn the language on my own? In February 2024, two years after the start of a full-scale war, Ukraine is asking itself similar questions, the answers to which are certainly not unambiguous. There is no doubt about only one thing: Ukraine will never become part of Russia. At least because it has never been.
Today I often compare my professional life to the work of an ambulance, although I do not directly save or resuscitate anyone. Together with the news team, we write stories about Ukrainian cities and people during the day, produce reports that allow families to raise hundreds of thousands of hryvnias for rehabilitation, analyze political changes in the country, and film the consequences of Russian shelling at night. As in February 2022, so today, it would have been impossible to do and survive this alone. Have we completely switched to the military reality? No. Are we adapting our professional life to it? Yes, sure, as are the people who listen, read and watch us.
Journalists joke that my shifts are the ones with all the breaking news. Massive rocket attacks, detentions of politicians and dismissals of senior military leaders, combined with visits by European politicians and the US Senate’s aid package vote, are not a complete list of events and topics we have covered in recent weeks. Laughter has helped us a lot, but to be honest, our jokes are now quite odd.
War is a tremendous experience that is almost impossible to gain in other circumstances. This is the story of a man, his wife and three children who were burned alive by Russian shelling in Kharkiv. The body of the baby was never identified. This is the dog Crimea (https://tsn.ua/en/ato/symbol-of-grief-what-happened-to-dog-crimea-that-lost-his-family-to-russian-missile-2172613.html), whose photo on the ruins of his deceased family’s house in Dnipro became a symbol of grief. Unfortunately, the dog died a short time later. This is the terrorist attack in Olenivka in which dozens of Ukrainian prisoners of war were killed and wounded, the annihilation of the 128th Brigade in Zaporizhia and hundreds of obituaries every day, from Da Vinci to Dali. Every Russian shelling gives us stories and themes, Russia creates newsbreaks that we would really prefer not to have.
The reality of 2024 is being imposed on Ukraine. Just like two years ago. Each of us had our own plans. I, for one, finally decided to get away from the editorial routine for a couple of weeks and planned to cover the French presidential election, focus on geopolitics and deepen my knowledge of international relations. Instead, I gave assignments about the types of ballistic missiles and drones.
Does Ukraine have a choice? No. Russia openly states that it is not interested in any peace process without preserving the occupied territories and conquering all Ukrainian territories. Ukraine, on the other hand, is defending its own. Corruption scandals, losses, and a counteroffensive that was not the one that Ukrainians, partners, or “spectators” expected have somewhat shaken Ukraine’s image as a winner. At least in the media, it is now often portrayed as a country who waits: for tanks, airplanes, air defense systems, and congressional votes, and paying for all this with human lives.
Before the full-scale invasion, my friends and I watched documentaries and read a lot about the Munich Agreement, and now we are analyzing local conflicts on the eve of World War II. Recently, despite the absence of an immediate threat of attack, NATO representatives have often spoken about a possible confrontation with Russia in the coming decades. “The North Atlantic Alliance does not want a war with Russia, but we must prepare for a confrontation that could last for decades,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in an interview with die Welt and added: “if Putin wins the war with Ukraine”. There is no doubt that this “if” will cost the world dearly. Ukraine’s task for the next year is to stand firm, and its partners – not to lose faith neither with weapons nor with words. The dawn always comes, especially when you are waiting for it. Ukrainians, despite the predictions, during these two years are definitely proving it.
Olesia Tytarenko is deputy news editor-in-chief of Suspilne, the Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine, and M100 Alumna.
More articles:
Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko: Europe’s future will be decided in Ukraine
Prof. Dr Wolfgang Ischinger: A European future in peace is at stake
Anna Romandash: The West is at peace because the Ukrainians are fighting
Olga Konsevych: It seems that the world and Ukrainians are teetering on the brink of chaos
Kai Diekmann: A genocide of the population is taking place in Ukraine
Olga Rudenko: It’s getting harder to hope
Mike Schubert: It is our duty not only to mourn, but to act
Baroness Kennedy of the Shaws: This war had implications for us all
Anastasiia Ivantsova: Russian propaganda is a crucial human rights violation
Olena Kuk: War is one of the most horrible things that you can possibly adapt to
