Ukraine
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We didn’t think something like this cloud happen. Not in the 21st Century. Not in Europe.
Surely, the world is so interconnected that one “major” country invading another is beyond our comprehension. Surely, the world’s few remaining strongmen flex occasionally, but they’d never start a full-scale war. Surely, there are dictators, but they’re mostly relegated to small, unnamable countries.
That’s what many of us convinced ourselves, myself included.
When I went to Ukraine in 2019 with my Ukrainian-born girlfriend (now wife), I thought that most of its major issues regarding Russia were settled. Crimea had been annexed, but they wanted to be Russian, right? And sure, there was fighting in the east, but that hadn’t been on the news for years, so it must have subsided? Besides, we weren’t planning on going anywhere near Donetsk or Lugansk.
The Founders Monument. A group of Varangians (Vikings), sail down the Dnieper at the invitation of Eastern European tribes to bring order to what became Kyiv Rus.
Our itinerary started, naturally, in Kyiv. I still pronounced it “Kiev,” thinking that the whole “Kiev” vs. “Kyiv” debate was pointless. Then we went to Odessa, then we went to my wife’s hometown.
Eastern Europe was, for me, an enigma. Some of us learn about places beyond the former iron curtain with an almost childlike curiosity. We picture eastern Europeans as reserved, serious, perhaps freely partaking vodka while sporting cartoonish gopnik attire.
I found that to be entirely untrue. What I found in Ukraine were an extremely welcoming people, proud in the best ways. Through my wife’s connections, pensioner babushkas would welcome us into their home at 6 a.m. where they’d prepared an assortment of food for us. All of it delicious save for salo (pickled raw pork fat). I think Eastern European food is very underrated.
People aren’t reserved. I found them to be talkative and not shy nor serious. There were two hypermasculine a$$holes we had to deal with, but every single other person was delightful and far nicer than what I can expect in my home city of D.C., on average.
Like many foods, much of what we consider to be Russian originated in the Kievan Rus – the predecessor state to the eastern Slavic nations. I think that’s what makes Putin’s war that much more personal. In the west, we like to categorize things binarily: good vs. evil, black vs. white, Ukraine vs. Russia. In truth, the roots of this latest conflict are far more complex than what most of us perceive. Many Ukrainians speak Russian as their mother tongue, and though Putin believes otherwise, they consider themselves Ukrainian before anything else.
The Holodomor memorial in Kyiv commemorating the victims of the Terror—Famine—Genocide perpetrated by Stalin, who sought to industrialize and consolidate agriculture by force. The initiative affected agriculture throughout all of the USSR, but hit Ukraine particularly hard as it was the breadbasket of the Soviet Union. It’s estimated that between 5 to 7 million Ukrainians perished.
My heart breaks for the people of Ukraine. They’re fighting against overwhelming odds. I am profoundly proud of my wife’s people. And many weeks into the latest stage of the war, I, like many others, am genuinely surprised at their wherewithal.
I believe that Putin has already lost this war. He just doesn’t know it yet. The question of whether he will drag Ukraine down with him is another matter. I hope I can visit Ukraine, soon, this time to a nation rebuilding and redefining itself.
