What do you feel? I feel like I’m having deja vu. Just like last year, CIA Director William Burns comes to Kyiv in January with a message about Russia’s plans for possible offensives. We can only hope that the current threat reports will be taken seriously. And there will be no hesitation like on February 24, when "we didn't want to blow up bridges because we hoped that Russians are people too."
Fortunately, unlike in 2022, we are preparing. In an interview with the Economist, Valerii Zaluzhnyi said that the Russian army is training about 200,000 new soldiers. The commander of the Ukrainian Armed Forces has no doubt that "they will march on Kyiv again." Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told all the world's media that Russia "still hopes that it will be able to move deeper into Ukraine." That is, the Oval Office no longer says goodbye to Ukraine and looks at it as a country hopelessly sick with corruption and Russian influence. Although what could one have thought after the calls of the highest political leadership not to go to the Territorial Defense Forces, but to prepare for the May barbecues?
But. We need to understand that when the famous propagandist and Ukrainophobe Sergei Mardan voices wet dreams of ruined key cities and Kyiv, this is the very plan of Russia. More terror, more destroyed families, and more yellow kitchens without supporting walls. To justify the dead “breadwinners”, they lack burned Kyiv neighborhoods. They tried it with Borodianka, the very place of pain that official Russian military reports said was being destroyed "to provide a direct passage towards Kyiv."
The window of opportunity for such an event is very modest for the Russians. You may have noticed Andrzej Duda's quote that "in a few weeks we will understand whether Ukraine will survive." So this was not just a call to Germany to finally provide those damn tanks. Russia is really running out of time - starting in February, restrictions on oil products will be added to the main array of sanctions. This means that they need to cripple Ukraine as much as possible in the short term, while they are in the process of gathering a striking force, air defense and human reserves. The goal of the Russian army after the return of its commander Valery Gerasimov is to impose Bakhmut on us wherever possible. So that Russian “meat waves” devour Ukraine’s strength, nerves, and blood. And at some point, all allies say "We're sick of this, too, so let's just sit down, negotiate, and stop it!"
How can this be prevented? First of all, I sincerely hope that Ukraine’s government has drawn conclusions. And realized that we do not panic, we are made of steel. That concealing the bitter truth only causes anger and a drop in all the ratings. Secondly, the disgusting case of Oleksii Arestovych, the favorite speaker of the Presidential Administration, had to happen at some point. So that most people would get tired of listening to his information excrement with promises to end it all in 2 to 3 weeks. Because the tragedy in Dnipro, which clearly and demonstratively showed the face of Russia and its new strategy, woke many up. That we are all defenseless against a missile that is a "killer of aircraft carriers" That body fragments that will be too difficult to identify, that people who have simply vaporized from fire and temperatures are our new reality.
Similarly, the Brovary tragedy - if you eliminate conspiracy theories and stop listening to good Russians with their versions - it is clear. That the death of the Interior Ministry leadership and the injured children in the kindergarten are Russia's fault and Russia's fault alone. It is because of the Russian occupying forces that we do not know peace, tranquility and security.
What should we do and how to prepare for new waves of terror? Medical courses are a way to save your own and your neighbor's lives. It was very nice to see schoolchildren in Brovary who got preschoolers from under the rubble and provided them first aid. Don't miss the opportunity to take Maria Berlinska's drone courses - her Aerial Reconnaissance Support Center has launched a program for local communities. And clearly separate the lies from the grains of truth.
At the moment of the war's culmination and the decision of our fate, we want to blame NATO, to ask the United States once again, to the tune of information scammers, "where is the land lease?", to feel hatred for Scholz, who doesn’t want to give Leopards. But our fate, just like 100 years ago, is in our hands. And it is very important not to bind society with promises of land, factories, and free money. We need simple solutions and a sedative. To draw conclusions from the fate of Bolbochan and stop looking for another alternative than to cut off Moscow's tentacles forever.
The war for survival concerns everyone. And everyone individually, too. It will not be possible to just "sit it out in safety" with wine on a beach. I want to say an important thing to our Ukrainians abroad: no one owes us anything. But do not forget the millions of those who are turning the hinges of victory here and now. Without pauses. Without rest and the right to make mistakes. Do not forget those who add to your image of "winners" in Europe. It's hard to say how our people would be received if we really surrendered in three days. The doors would have been closed most likely, as the world does not like losers. The cynical world adores fighters and winners.
That is why I am annoyed by the "I am buying tickets for the May holidays in Yalta" talk . And talk about making the Kuban Ukrainian again. Why and what is the point when our soldiers count shells near Soledar?
I'm sorry that over the past 10 months (in fact, the fight for the liberation has been going on since December 2013), our people have learned what it means to survive under the rubble. What it is like to live without arms, legs, and worst of all, with a burned soul. How scary it is to tie your son's hands in a coffin instead of a tie. How painful it is when a bride in love throws not a wedding bouquet over her shoulder, but a lump of frozen earth on her husband's chest. How the heart shrinks when the mother mourns the small coffin. When a father realizes that the kid he brought to the kindergarten just an hour ago died under the wreckage of a helicopter.
The prewar life "in the moment" and "in resource" as we knew it will no longer exist. But there will be a new one. And we need to gather all our strength. The same way as in the very culmination of a blockbuster, when the hero in a torn T-shirt and a bloody face stands up and finishes off a terrible creature.
We will not have the same life as before.
We have to reassemble it.
And finally answer the "Who am I?" question to ourselves.
And as long as you are alive, work, do something useful for the communities you are part of. Kiss your children. Take care of your parents. Do not spare the best dishes and the best clothes. Do not spare makeup - it is better you use it than a wife of the Russian occupier. Get a cat, dog or rat that you have long dreamed of but hesitated. And if you live through this day and survive, say “thank you." And think about why the heavenly powers and the Ukrainian Armed Forces have saved you. For what purpose and mission.
News like the ones from Dnipro and Brovary are shocking, they knock you down. And they convince you that there is no justice. It does not exist. But the darkness of war loves to devour people. We are not alone, not unique. Such tragedies have been experienced by all societies that have been conquered or wiped out by their enemies.
Therefore, all hatred and pain for revenge and a single goal - Russia - must disappear.
Source.
Author: Maryna Danyliuk-Yarmolaeva