Pinned
Pinned post
Hi, I'm from Ukraine!
Today marks three years since the day russia invaded my country. On this day three years ago, I woke up at 4 am from explosions and panicked messages from friends and family. And thus the nightmare began, and it hasn't stopped since.
Since then, it has been a constant parade of bad news. In Feb 2022 we couldn't believe russia would start a full-scale invasion, in Feb 2025 we can't believe the war will ever end. Because it's been 3 years of unmasked aggression, but 11 years of war, and centuries of colonial oppression that needs to be dealt with at the root – its weaved into the russian culture to kill and oppress us. Simply stopping your neighbour from attacking you will mean nothing if they still live next to you, fully convinced you need to die, with an arsenal of weapons, right?
I still wake up every other night from explosions, but now I just turn to the side and try to fall asleep, because war is war, but work/gym/responsibilities require energy. Bizarrely, life goes on, you have to continue living under severe stress. The zoom calls after someone died from a russian missile in your neighbourhood. The doctor's appointment after reading news of our POWs getting beheaded. The friend's birthday after another ecological disaster russia enabled... Yes, I could move, but I don't want to – this is my land and my people. My tax money helps the economy, my volunteering and donations help soldiers whom we owe our lives. I feel somewhat uncomfortable being abroad (this is just my choice, plenty of Ukrainians chose safety and I don't blame them at all). + Kyiv's air defence is pretty spectacular. So I ignore the air raid alerts (there have been 1539 sirens in Kyiv since 24.02.2022), it's stupid, but everyday I make the choice of rather being killed than submitting my comfort. This is not a choice I should have to make. Not a choice any Ukrainian has to make.
Why do we keep fighting? Because we know that if we don't, we'll all get killed and the world will be a much worse place, for everybody. I shudder when I think of Ukrainians in occupation – they are getting killed for listening to Ukrainian music, for a pic in their phones, for a blue-yellow patch, for speaking Ukrainian. It's worse than hell.
I see a lot of bitter posts from my fellow Ukrainians saying that the world has forgotten, that no one cares, that russian culture is still tolerated, and they are right to express frustration and anger. I sincerely believe that the war could be stopped if the world collectively decided to not tolerate russians + didn't choose economical gain over humanity and democratic values.
But I don't want to be bitter. Yes, it's been 3 years of full-scale war, but it's also been 3 years of resistance. I just want to say THANK YOU to everyone who hasn't forgotten, who keeps supporting and fighting. I see you, I love you, I appreciate you. Together we are stronger, we can stand up to the aggressor. We have, for 1097 days, we will - for as long as it takes.
Here is an important post about donations. In a nutshell:
- Hospitallers - Ukrainian volunteer medical battalion, which provides first aid and evacuates wounded Ukrainian soldiers
- Ukrainian charity fund "Come Back Alive"
- Ukrainian charity foundation of Serhiy Pritula
- United24- the official platform for collecting charitable donations in support of Ukraine
I support these charities myself.
Slava Ukraini 💙💛
