I wager you awakened this morning, learn the world information, and couldn’t consider it — how is that this actually occurring? Has the world actually plunged into complete chaos and insanity? You simply need to get up from this nightmare, however as an alternative, it retains insisting on turning into the brand new regular — your on a regular basis actuality.
That is precisely how Ukrainians felt three years in the past — solely multiplied by the horrors of warfare — when Russia launched its prison full-scale invasion and started bombing our peaceable cities. It made us need to scream: Cease the planet, I need to get off!
Over these three years of full-scale warfare, we Ukrainians have gone by means of a number of phases in our relationship with actuality. At first, there was full rejection and denial — it appeared not possible to consider {that a} warfare was not solely a criminal offense however utter insanity, one thing that had no place within the twenty first century. It felt like all we needed to do was take hundreds of thousands of images of the warfare, flood social media with tales and reels, translate our messages into each language, and the world would get up, see the reality — and inside weeks, this nightmare can be over.
Righteous anger and fury quickly took over, driving the Ukrainian military to hold out sensible army operations, expelling the occupiers from our land with unimaginable effort. By the top of 2022, there was a way of euphoria — of mutual help inside the nation and solidarity from the Western world. It felt like individuals of goodwill, standing for ethical and simply ideas, might obtain something collectively.
By 2023, the warfare had grow to be our each day actuality, simply part of life. Anger became powerless hatred, and concern misplaced its sting — we had grown used to it. When the Kremlin tried to scare us with nuclear strikes, we merely laughed in response. As a result of what else can an unusual particular person do when confronted with essentially the most terrifying bomb?
Ukrainians immediately got here up with a meme about Shchekavytsia, a historic hill within the heart of Kyiv. The joke went that if a nuclear strike have been to wipe us all out in a millisecond, we might first collect on Shchekavytsia for a joyful, carefree, historic Greek-style orgy. The tyrant wouldn’t scare us — if we have been to die, we’d achieve this with dignity, laughing, and with our heads held excessive. Virtually instantly, one of the widespread T-shirts in Ukraine grew to become the one with the slogan: "I’ll be the primary on Shchekavytsia."
By the third 12 months of warfare, there was no power left for anger, hatred, and even laughter. It turned out that concern, like hatred, is an extremely draining emotion — one merely can’t stay with it for too lengthy. A way of vacancy set in, exhaustion, an acceptance of actuality as destiny—one thing inescapable. No matter energy remained was directed towards the each day wrestle for existence — typically with out gentle or warmth in our houses, and most significantly, with out hope that this might ever finish.
"It turned out that concern, like hatred, is an extremely draining emotion."
What might be mentioned at the moment, because the fourth 12 months of this bloody invasion and assault on the world order begins? We now have regressed from dreaming of victory over the aggressor to the humiliating hope for an unjust peace.
In follow, which means the thought of reclaiming the 1991 borders is not widespread in Ukrainian society. Nobody significantly talks about territories anymore — the one factor that issues is ending the warfare, stopping our individuals from dying on the entrance strains and within the rear.
Even the phrase "victory" has grow to be nearly taboo. Previously, each birthday toast ended with needs for a swift victory; each good deed was described on Fb as "our contribution to the frequent victory." Now, talking like this feels embarrassing. Such lofty phrases would possibly nonetheless belong within the trenches, spoken by soldiers-turned-heroes — however there are fewer and fewer of them on daily basis. On the house entrance, that form of rhetoric sounds low cost and hole.
Now, we hear talks of a possible peace settlement, nevertheless it’s already clear that regardless of the way it performs out, for Ukraine, will probably be humiliating — some outcomes worse than others, however none actually simply. A peace deal could at the very least quickly cease the bloodshed, nevertheless it received’t restore an important factor. And I’m not speaking about misplaced territory — I’m speaking about justice.
What sort of world will we get up to after this so-called peace? Not only a world the place a stronger nation has bitten off 20% of a weaker one.
We’re about to begin dwelling in a world the place a warfare prison orders the execution of unarmed prisoners of warfare kneeling earlier than their killers after which proudly spreads footage of the bloodbath by means of his personal propaganda channels. A world the place individuals are beheaded or bludgeoned to loss of life with sledgehammers, the place kids’s oncology hospitals are bombed, the place energy stations are destroyed within the lifeless of winter to freeze hundreds of thousands of civilians to loss of life, the place a drone full of explosives is intentionally aimed on the sarcophagus of a nuclear energy plant throughout essentially the most vital safety convention. And nobody is held accountable for any of it.
Sure, the disgust you’re feeling studying these strains is totally justified — and to Ukrainians, it has lengthy been acquainted. Any further, this sense will slowly grow to be part of your each day life, too. As a result of even a so-called peace settlement — nonetheless humiliating — won’t ship what issues most: the punishment of warfare criminals and the condemnation of their atrocities.
As a substitute of dealing with jail or isolation, the aggressor will sit down at prestigious worldwide gatherings, dictating his personal phrases. A assassin whose crimes have been captured on digicam hundreds of thousands of instances in essentially the most documented warfare in human historical past won’t stand trial however will as an alternative snicker in our faces. And it makes you need to scream: This can’t be!
"As a substitute of dealing with jail or isolation, the aggressor will sit down at prestigious worldwide gatherings, dictating his personal phrases."
That is precisely what we felt three years in the past, in February 2022. We needed to shake the world awake, to scream till somebody listened. The West sympathized with us, helped us, however refused to acknowledge the reality: this warfare was towards them, too. At this time, that terrifying realization is lastly dawning on Europeans, because it turns into clear to all that if warfare comes, America won’t battle for Europe, and NATO not works.
Tragically, it wasn’t Vladimir Putin’s crimes or Ukraine’s warnings that woke Europe up — it was Donald Trump. This geopolitical shift — what’s, in actuality, America’s betrayal — has pressured Europe to face a conclusion that was already apparent three years in the past.
The explanation for the worldwide chaos we now see — the place Trump overtly speaks about occupying Greenland and makes it clear that Europe is not beneath America’s safety umbrella — is painfully easy. It’s the unpunished evil of Putin’s aggression towards Ukraine. That’s what finally shattered the world order and erased all guidelines. It was this cynical and profitable assault on international stability that led to the absurd actuality the place the Worldwide Prison Court docket, which issued an arrest warrant for Putin, is now dealing with sanctions from what was as soon as the main democratic nation on the earth.
That is now a world of mockery, humiliation, and the brazen trampling of not simply political norms however the ethical and moral values that outline Europe itself. The evil genie has been let loose of the bottle, and with every passing day, it grows stronger, bolder, extra aggressive. Does anybody nonetheless doubt that if it’s not stopped, not punished, it is going to assault once more after some so-called peace settlement? And subsequent time, it doubtless received’t be simply Ukraine.
So forgive me, however after 4 years of warfare, my message to you from Ukraine will not be to your liking. We, Ukrainians, are glad that you’re lastly starting to understand the reality: this warfare is towards all of us — together with you. And the prison doesn’t even trouble to cover his bloodstained enamel. Sure, it’s good — although tragically late — that after 1,100 days of warfare, from Kyiv to Brussels, there’s lastly a shared understanding: we’re all aboard the identical Titanic. A ship that may by no means attain America — as a result of America is way away, and our catastrophe is right here.
We, Ukrainians, clenched our enamel way back and did what wanted to be finished to outlive this Titanic. Now, will probably be fascinating to see what selection you make: will you seek for a lifeboat along with us — or will you proceed to sink helplessly beneath the waves to the sentimental strains of "Ode to Pleasure"?
Editor’s Word: The opinions expressed within the op-ed part are these of the authors and don’t purport to mirror the views of the Kyiv Unbiased.
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The Kyiv IndependentOlga Aivazovska