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Ukrainians shelter in soviet era metro / air raid shelter. Photo: AP

We, the NCW editorial team, welcome back Halyna, who, every bit ane of the primeval contributors to NCW, returns to share her thoughts and insights on current events in Ukraine.

Past Halyna Mokrushyna

I see pictures of my young man Ukrainians sleeping in subway stations in Kyiv and Kharkiv, with their kids, pets, blankets, warm clothes. These subway stations were congenital as bomb shelters during Soviet times, to protect civilians in case of state of war. They were built in the country in which Ukrainians and Russians were brotherly peoples, and the vast majority did non carve up friends and family unit by indigenous origin.

Now Ukrainians are running to these bomb shelters considering Russian troops are advancing towards Kyiv, every bit I write this, and Russians are already in Kharkiv/Kharkov, and I see videos of local people greeting Russian soldiers as liberators. I as well watch videos of a Russian soldier captured by Ukrainians. He is continuing with his hands tied behind his dorsum and I hear a male person vocalization ordering him to say: 'Glory to Ukraine'. He refuses and says instead: "Glory to Russian federation".

In one of his addresses to the Ukrainian nation, the former comedian turned president of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, responding to Vladimir Putin'south words almost the pro-Nazi power holders in Ukraine, said that at that place are no Nazis in Ukraine. Zelensky said that he himself is a grand son of a Soviet soldier who saved the earth from Nazis. And he said this in Russian.

Nonetheless it is nether his presidency that Ukraine became a monolingual country when, according to the new law on languages, the Russian language was banned from schools, universities, public spaces. The Russian language that is a female parent natural language for millions of Ukrainians. And it is under Zelensky'south presidency that official ceremonies honoring the Nazi collaborator, nationalist leader Bandera were held throughout Ukraine.

Most Ukrainians voted for Zelensky in 2019 because he promised to end the war against Donbass and bring piece to Ukraine. The only style to attain this was through the implementation of the Minsk agreements, signed in February 2015 between Ukraine and the break-abroad republics of Donetsk and Lugansk after difficult and tense negotiations between the Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel, President of French republic François Hollande, President of Russia Vladimir Putin, and the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko. Essentially, these agreements provided for an autonomous status of Donbass within Ukraine, with Donbass' correct to keep Russian as the official language, to develop close economic ties with neighbouring Russian regions, to take their own judges and local forces of order. The Minsk agreements were signed by the OSCE] Administrator Heidi Tagliavini, 2d President of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma, the Administrator of the Russian Federation to Ukraine Mikhail Zurabov, and the leaders of Donetsk People's Republic Alexander Zakharchenko and the leader of the Lugansk People'south Republic Igor Plotnitsky.

It was a compromise, and as any compromise, nobody was totally satisfied with it. But these agreements were a route map to finish the civil war in Ukraine, where the fighting sides were supported by the W, on one side, and by Russia, on the other, to prevent the escalation of the conflict on the global level between the collective Westward and Russia. Yet Ukraine did not keep its office of the agreement. Year later year, Russia has been waiting on Ukraine watching how Ukrainian army shelled Donetsk and Lugansk, killing thousands of civilians, watching how in Kyiv the post-Euromaidan government was adopting laws glorifying Nazi collaborators, condemning the Soviet by and Soviet achievements, banning the Russian language.

Moscow has appealed many times to Paris and Berlin to put pressure on Kyiv. Nothing only evasive promises and false assurances came from the high offices in Europe and Washington.

And yet the Due west ignited the flame in Ukraine by giving Ukrainians the same false promises to welcome them in the European Spousal relationship, to accept them in NATO, while knowing all as well well that these promises will never be kept. And it is the Westward who said zip when neo-Nazi paramilitary was driving the violence on Euromaidan, when multicultural bilingual Ukraine was burning in flames on Maidan, and when Kyiv sent troops in Apr 2014 to beat the Russian spring in Donetsk and Lugansk

And now Ukrainians are paying with claret and decease for their naivety and the lack of understanding of the fundamental geopolitical forces that shape the world nosotros alive in. They wanted a ameliorate life and European salaries. Who can blame them? Merely the route to that life leads through pluralism, tolerance, respect for law and the opinions of others. And all these democratic values that the Due west proclaims and so loudly and proudly were not embraced by all in Ukraine.

There is so much to say about the causes of this tragedy. But I will just add one comparison for my Canadian friends: Ukraine is the neighbour of one of the greatest political and military powers of the world, exactly equally Canada has an elephant neighbor downwards south. And Canada almost always follows in the footsteps of the Usa when it comes to foreign policy and military actions abroad. The US is likewise the biggest merchandise partner of Canada. Can you lot imagine all the repercussions if these ties were suddenly cut?

Everybody contributed to the eruption of the war in Ukraine. It will probably end by the victory of Russian troops. From what I accept seen, they deploy all the efforts to spare civilians in Ukraine. Russians did non want this war. But the collective Westward, lead by Washington, cornered them. And they pushed dorsum. For Russians, it is a defensive move, their last stand before NATO bombs would fall on the Russian territory. When the war in Ukraine will exist over, Russia will take necessary steps to ensure that the new authorities of Ukraine will swear neutrality, merely as it was before Euromaidan. And I hope that this time people who volition come to ability in Ukraine will realize how important it is to be inclusive, tolerant, and democratic.

This is only a simple outline of the factors that led to the tragedy we are witnessing now. I could keep well-nigh the West's interventions in Libya, Syria, Iraq. Simply you get the movie. Right at present, European countries, i afterward another, are sending weapons to Ukraine. They volition not send troops. And the American war hawks volition fight confronting Russian federation till the last Ukrainian. History has non taught them any lesson: Russians volition fight till the end. Despite harsh economic sanctions, closure of air spaces, exclusion from sport events, despite any efforts to make Russia a pariah state. They will fight because no matter what we think, they consider Ukrainians their brothers.

And the enkindling will come to Ukraine. Right now, I can but pray that it comes with minimal casualties and suffering. I am a Ukrainian, and information technology hurts. I am half-Russian also, through my father. I have never lived in Russian federation, but I grew upward in the Soviet Union, reading great Ukrainian and Russian literature, learning by center Ukrainian and Russian poetry. I love Russian people and Russian civilization. And I know for certain that ane day, sooner than later, when canons fall silent and the dust settles, Ukrainians and Russians will get good neighbours again. And peace will reign on my native land. And Ukraine will become over again a country where all are treated equally and respectfully, no matter the language, where the Soviet history is rehabilitated, where Ukrainians accept decent salaries and prosper on their own land and do hot have to exit to work on strawberry fields in Poland or on construction sites in Italy, Greece, Spain. To build such a prosperous state, Ukrainians need Russian federation's help, and good relations with the Due west. This is so obvious to everyone with a common sense and sober thinking. In one case the war is over, it will exist up to Ukrainians to empathize it and make up one's mind for themselves what land they want to build.

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About: Halyna Mokrushyna, Ph.D., is an independent researcher and journalist. Her research interests include the challenges of the post-Soviet transition in Ukraine; social and economical inequality in the mail service-Soviet context; historical and cultural divisions within Ukraine; social memory and politics of retention; relations between Russia and Canada and the broader context of the mail service-common cold war world and relations between the Due east and the West. Her articles on these subjects were published on Counterpunch, Truthdig, and Truthout websites.

Editors' Annotation: While we don't necessarily share the views we publish on New Cold State of war, nosotros practice endeavour to provide readers with a range of views. This is considering your right to brand your own heed upwards depends on your being fully informed.

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Source: https://www.sott.net/article/465009-My-answer-to-Canadian-friends-worrying-about-the-war-in-Ukraine