Do you know Ukraine? Where people burn tires, where riot police uses bullets to kill unarmed civilians, where some people in uniforms without insignia occupy state buildings, where people gathered for rally are attacked by armed units, where antiterrorist op are held in towns - combat helicopters, APCs, shootings, where people are kidnapped, tortured, killed? Sure you do. Today not only White House spokesperson but many people around the world are able to pronounce those unpronounceable titles of Ukrainian towns in the middle of nowhere - like Sloviansk, Kramatorsk, Luhansk. Of course you know Ukraine – country where there is war… New spot on the map and headline in news…
But that’s not a country I know. Ukraine I know is peaceful and a little bit lazy. People are hospitable and sincere. The country had its glorious victories and bitter defeats in the past. 17 millions died in WWI and WWII as well as in Holodomor (Famine). But for 70 years Ukrainians lived in relative peace. Three peaceful generations…
When Soviet Union collapsed Ukraine has got independence many generations were dreaming of and fighting for. We were proud that no blood was shed. We watched in horror wars on Caucasus and strife in Asia, and later the establishment of the totalitarian regime in Belarus and terrorism in Russia. We were fighting our peaceful fight for a better life, with ups and downs of course, but our country have not seen war conflicts or other tragedies. There were some horrible accidents: plane crash in Sknyliv (near Lviv), floods, train crashes and car accidents etc. But no war …
Therefore violence of the police against the Maidan shook the country. First deaths were perceived as huge misunderstanding. Sniper shootings on black Thursday (February 20) turned our understanding of the country and our own identity. More than 100 innocent people were killed in peaceful times in country that used to be peaceful.
Spring brought new reality. Country that we used to call neighbor and even a brotherly nation leads undeclared war in the east of the country. We’ve lost Crimea. We are getting used to read headlines about casualties during anti-terrorist operation, kidnappings, even of OCSE experts, murders, soldiers killed by terrorists. But we are still afraid to say it loudly – Ukraine is at war. Therefore we see typical peaceful images and headlines mixed with images and news about war.
Western media are crueler. They treat situation in Ukraine as typical war conflict. But we, Ukrainians, are not used to see headlines where our Ukraine is in the same line with Afghanistan, Syria.
We pray for peace. We do not want to get used to war…