The People Of Ukraine Are Under Attack, Please Don’t Look Away

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The current situation in Ukraine is so massive and important that it feels hard to even try to write an article about it. However, because what’s happening is so unfathomable, we need to talk about it.

Lots of people in the United States and the broader western world have voiced their support for Ukraine amid Russia’s completely unprovoked invasion. But unless you are experiencing the situation yourself or know someone who is, it’s easy to forget about it or dismiss it as just something happening on the other side of the world.

This conflict is not just “something happening in Eastern Europe.” It’s hurting real people and has endless ramifications around the world.

I’m one-fourth Ukrainian. My mom was born in Ukraine and lived there for several years. Then her family moved to Croatia, where my grandpa was from. My dad is fully Croatian, making me three-fourths Croatian. My parents raised me with Croatian culture, teaching me Croatian and English at the same time. 

I’ve always had strong ties to my Croatian culture and visited my family in Croatia numerous times. But last year, I decided I wanted to start connecting to the other 25% of my heritage. So I started taking Ukrainian language lessons with a teacher who lives in Kyiv.

My mom and I even started to talk about visiting Ukraine to meet some of my cousins for the first time.

The idea that I’ll never meet my cousins because of this conflict is terrifying.

My mom is in constant contact with the Ukrainian side of our family. Most are in villages, not major cities. But the Russian forces have struck villages before, so there is no telling whether they are safe. My teacher fled Kyiv and became one of the over two million refugees who have left the country.

As a journalist, I get constant updates on the situation. I’ve also shed more than a few tears looking at images of the damage and the casualties. 

While this war feels all too real to me, many Americans leave comments online saying that they don’t want to “get political” and talk about the situation.

But this war isn’t a matter of politics — it’s a matter of human rights. So it should be important to everyone, whether it impacts you directly or not. Because it will impact you eventually.

I recently attended a Ukraine rally in my city during which people made speeches in both Ukrainian and English. While it was nice to have an opportunity to practice my Ukrainian, I really wished it was under better circumstances.

One of the biggest points I took away from the rally is that Ukraine is likely just the first phase. A big reason why Russia had an issue with Ukraine was that Ukraine wanted to join NATO and Russia doesn’t want a NATO ally bordering it.

But what happens if Russia takes over Ukraine completely? Then it’s got more NATO countries like Hungary, Romania, and Poland by its new border. And what about Finland, which also borders Russia and wants to join NATO?

It won’t stop with Ukraine. And right now, Ukraine’s the only thing standing between Russia and the rest of Europe.

There are many ways you can help Ukraine, from donating your money to relief efforts to spreading awareness. So please consider doing something to help. Even if you can’t help financially, there is so much value in keeping up with what’s happening and helping to stop the spread of misinformation.

The people of Ukraine are strong and resilient. The Russian forces thought taking over would be easy. But we’re more than two weeks out from the first attack and Ukraine is still holding up. Invasions are expensive, and the Russians’ resources can’t last forever. 

Don’t turn a blind eye to the heroism of the Ukrainian people (and even of the Russians brave enough to protest against the violence in a place where they could get thrown in jail for doing so). Instead, please show your support for the real people whose worlds have been turned upside-down.

Слава Україні! Glory to Ukraine!

Feature Image by Yehor Milohrodskyi on Unsplash

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