On March 25, the same day that 90 percent of Mariupol’s infrastructure was declared destroyed, I looked out the window at a frighteningly silent Copenhagen. There were no ruins or corpses lying on the street. Life was still moving and flourishing about something.
Maybe the officials of the Russian Federation are not aware that their actions are ruining the future, maybe they think they are liberating (already free) people, and maybe they just do not care.
When will the reality of the war really become not only for me, as Ukrainians, but for non-Ukrainians?
A test we can not take again
Although war may be a concept known to the world, its reality is always new. As I enter my school, I see boxes of clothes, food and necessary supplies being collected to be donated to Ukraine. It seems that war is a part of everyday life at this time; however, I never expected it to be as close to my life as it has been for the past five weeks.
A child in Ukraine being killed every six hours gives one a different perspective, and things that used to mean something now mean a lot less. What happens if Kiev falls? If their childhood disappears or becomes so changed that they can no longer recognize reality as Russia’s children.
Meanwhile, Russia’s brutality ensures that authoritarianism is on the rise, while the seed banks of democracy, as in Ukraine, are being neglected by the West.
‘We stand with you’
President Biden arrived in Poland on March 26, where he visited the US troops stationed there and also met Ukrainian refugees.
He listened to their stories – most of them tragic. The children asked him to pray for their fathers, brothers and sisters.
Ukrainians understand what President Biden calls “the effort at this moment,” but we are still awaiting actions that will ensure that his words are not just an empty promise.
Peace talks or a distraction?
On March 29, Russia promised to reduce its attacks on Kiev, but it appears that the so-called ‘peace talks’ between Ukraine and Russia have turned into a game of cat and mouse. Russia’s promise increasingly resembles an illusion of luring citizens out of their homes in Mariupol and Irpin and continuing their mass execution project.
As far as Russia is concerned, the negotiations are just a formality. For Ukraine, they are a false promise. While the people of Russia have paid with their money, the citizens of Ukraine are paying with their lives.
On April 1, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov described the talks as a means of “much more understanding”. Ukrainians wonder how much more understanding is needed for these war crimes.
Nature is undeniable
President Putin has been embodied as the reincarnation of the Devil in the 21st century, and although this persona gains more life as the weeks go by, very little is done to disarm his authority and diminish his influence over the Russian people.
While Putin’s conventional wisdom has been portrayed as ‘largely miscalculated’, his plan to exterminate Ukrainians as an ethnic group appears to be moving according to plan.
It may appear that the Ukrainian troops have slowed down the Russian occupiers. But the reality is that Ukrainians continue to die and no comfort has been given to the families who have lost their homes and loved ones.
A month has passed and their fate is still in balance.
Source: The Nordic Page