The opportunity to reach a Western audience is a great chance to deliver the truth about Russian aggression against Ukraine, writes Roman Rukomeda.
Roman Rukomeda is a Ukrainian political analyst. This is his 50th account of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
This is my 50th article for EURACTIV about the war in Ukraine that was started by Putin’s Russia on 24 February. I have been trying to write my texts as a diary about the war, to describe people in it, their behaviour and how Ukrainian society is going through this biggest threat and test of survival we have ever had since the accident at Chernobyl in 1986.
I did not think that this effort would last that long. These last two months of war lasted two years for most Ukrainians and myself. But we understand that there is possibly even more time ahead of us that we need to live through the war and Russian aggression against Ukraine. And we need to do it so that all the efforts of those Ukrainians who lost their lives in this war would not be wasted.
The opportunity to reach a Western audience is a great chance for me to deliver the truth about Russian aggression against Ukraine, show the unprecedented level of crime from their side, their lack of morals, and the disrespect to international humanitarian rules aimed at protecting innocent people during military aggressions.
For a long time, Putin’s Russia spent billions of euros on their propaganda in Europe, trying to create the image of Russia as a civilised country. And for me, it is really important now to show that this image is a total fake and that Russian aggressors are behaving like war criminals and terrorists in Ukraine.
Their level of crimes and atrocities cannot be hidden or forgiven. It is to show the true nature of Putin’s Russia, which is threatening the whole of Europe, including with nuclear weapons, that I am writing my texts.
EU and NATO countries should understand that this war against Russia is against Ukraine and the whole Western democratic civilisation, and Ukraine is only the first step in it.
It is crucial to defeating Putin’s Russia in Ukraine without letting the war spill over to other European countries. For us Ukrainians, it is a matter of survival.
In writing my articles, I always write “russia” and “putin” without a capital letter, and it is the Brussels editor who corrects the final text.
In my opinion, Putin is a bloody criminal dictator, and Russia is a terrorist state. The international community shall punish both for their crimes if the world wants to have a future of peace. Both do not deserve to be written with capital letters.
For the last twenty years, I firmly believe that Putin’s regime in Russia has been preparing its evil plan of revanche against their loss in the cold war. Aggression against Georgia in 2008 and Ukraine in 2014 were the first steps.
Unfortunately, the EU, NATO, and Western societies did not react sharply to these crimes. As a result, Putin’s geopolitical appetites grew, and some Western leaders were helping to feed this beast. Now it is the moment of truth. And there is a fundamental understanding of the actual danger that modern terrorist Russia brings to the world.
It is not easy to write during the war. Sometimes, especially for the first two months, there was a need to physically hide from Russian planes or missiles flying over our heads.
I have seen them, heard their explosions and sometimes seen the fire from the Russian air attacks. Such feelings and emotions were not appropriate for writing as the fury and anger against the Russian invaders overwhelmed me.
Asking myself what I can do the most for the support of my country, I understood that it is my text for the Western audience to describe the actual situation and the problems and ask for any possible assistance to Ukraine that can be delivered. The case remains the same and international help to Ukraine, especially from EU and NATO countries, is key for our survival.
The most potent example of telling the truth about the Russian war against Ukraine is our city of Mariupol.
Today there was an online talk with Ukrainian soldiers left in Mariupol, defending the territory of the Azovstal steel plant. And they said that they would not surrender as it would mean absolute death to them. They will stand till the end, and it is their only chance for survival as, in some perspective, the Ukrainian Armed forces will try to regain the city and save them.
A similar story is going on with the whole of Ukraine. Russia is trying not to capture Ukraine but destroy it, as in Mariupol, Bucha, Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Sumy and many more towns and villages. Russian invaders are leaving after retreating from occupied territories, destroying infrastructure, robbing houses, killing and raping owners, burned and mining apartments.
So Ukraine, as in the case of Mariupol defenders, has only one option left. To fight till the end and win. The alternative is to lose and die, being destroyed by Russian war criminals. In such a scenario, the Russian hordes will assault other European countries. I believe that we will win and liberate our captured territories from Russian aggressors. Ukraine will become a member of the European Union, and Russian war criminals will be punished for all their crimes in Ukraine.
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2022-05-09 05:42:10Z
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