Oksana Stomina, Olena Stiazhkina, Taras Prokhasko, Valerii Pekar, Mychailo Wynnyckyj — March 22-26, 2022

Flash essays from the collection “Wars. Ukrainians. Humanity” tell about the insights, experiences, and beliefs of Ukrainians, which ignited their society in 2022, when the full-scale russian invasion of Ukraine began.

The Cultural Hub community and curators carefully collected, translated, and illustrated these texts in order to capture the values ​​of Ukrainians — Freedoms, Bravery, Dignity, Responsibility, and Humour. 

A series of publications in partnership with Chytomo introduces this collection to the English-speaking audience. Volume 7 continues to present the series. You can get acquainted with the previous collection here.

Oksana Stomina: Appeal from the Boy in the Photo. March 22

This post is an appeal to Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. But it’s not mine — it is from the boy in this photo. I promised him to publish it.

His name is Denys. I met him at the bomb shelter on February 27, in the first days of the war. Denys and his mother came from Sartana. They hunkered down in our basement, trying to save their lives during the first air raids. Agitated, the boy told me about their experience. He repeated over and over again how frightening it was when a fighter jet swooped down so close, dropping bombs on the neighboring houses. He was so terrified that his heart almost jumped out of his chest. Denys also told me how he had saved his best friend, a teddy bear, even though he was so terribly frightened.

“I pressed him to my chest to protect him from bombs,” the boy said. “I covered his ears and eyes so he wouldn’t hear and see those horrible things. When the fighter jet left, we jumped into our car and drove away, very-very fast. Under the bullets, because the shelling never stopped. Why do they do it? Why do they kill other people?!”

In a few days, our defenders in Mariupol downed that jet. It was a miracle, really. God must have helped them because they did not get any other help. The defenders of Mariupol are real heroes, but they have not received any anti-aircraft weapons, fighter jets, or any other outside support yet.

On the eve of the International Women’s Day, Denys made a postcard for me. Unfortunately, I did not take it away with me, as I left quite suddenly, but his painting will stay in my memory and my heart forever.

Denys painted me and the flag of Ukraine, himself and the flag of Ukraine, flowers and the flag of Ukraine, an eight and yet another flag — the flag of Ukraine in whose victory he believes and whose help he is still awaiting in the basement.  

Before I left the shelter, I hugged Denys, and he asked me to tell Volodymyr Zelenskyy — once I had cell service — that he was in Mariupol waiting for help. But the boy, wise beyond his years, did not ask the president to rescue him from the basement but to send reinforcements to our defenders. Anti-aircraft weapons and a few fighter jets.  

Did you hear that, mister Commander-in-Chief?! Thank you for your attention!

Olena Stiazhkina: Kyiv. March 23

A “little man” is the alpha and omega of the “great russian culture.” A little, despicable, cowardly, uncomplaining, gray, voiceless someone. Whatever and wherever they are, their ability to act is non-existent.

A burly, deaf and mute Gerasim obediently drowns the only soul that loves him. Looking into his dog’s eyes, he wraps a rope around a brick, makes a loop, and ties it round his neck… He betrays his dog and kills him. He could have taken him somewhere, sold him or given him away. He could have tied the dog to a tree in the forest and visited him every day, feeding and loving him. But no. Gerasim is a little man. He is too weak to resist the circumstances. But he is strong enough to kill.

A “trembling creature,” Raskolnikov decided to measure his largess and height with murder. A murder out of curiosity. He is a little man who believes that he has to kill another person to grow bigger.

A little man is an unknown soldier, a nameless hero, a missing warrior. Their name is legion. And they don’t have a name, at the same time, being fused together into the body of a machine that either devours or kills.

For many decades, the “great russian culture” has been trying to make the world choke on its tears over the destiny of people who trembled with fear, doubt, and helplessness and committed crimes, unable to resist them.  

When the war broke out, my older children’s landlords called them and said, “Well, now that this happened, you can pay only for utilities, if you can afford it. It’s alright if you don’t pay the rent. We’re good people, after all.”

I wouldn’t call them good people before the war. The landlords, a mother and daughter, were “half-Vatniks.”

* Lots of people like them lived in Kyiv back in the day. Their opinion about what moscovia did in 2014 fit the pattern of “it’s not so straightforward,” “we’re brotherly nations, after all,” and “we have no power over anything.” I am not sure if their opinion has changed now that the “brotherly nation” is skinning people alive out of curiosity or helplessness. I hope it has.

But even if it hasn’t. They called us to clarify what kind of people they were. Between the “little” (those who don’t decide anything) and the “good” (those capable of doing something), they chose the latter.

Ever since the war started, I have been using the crime series — about riot squads, police departments, and private detectives — as my sleeping pills. They lull me into confidence that good really wins over evil. They drew my attention to the fact that even the most cruel maniacs put the guns down; the filthiest bastards willingly cooperate with the investigation; and the most corrupt police officers admit their treason and often shield their colleagues from bullets to remain — at least for a little bit — good people.

“Are you a good person?” — this question, a key one in the negotiations with the criminals, creates a completely different mirror in which the civilization is looking. Not a nameless soldier, but Private Ryan who has to be saved, for he is his mother’s sole surviving son.

“Am I a good person?” is a question that teenagers and seniors, the rich and the poor, men and women keep asking. What’s more, even zombies from apocalyptic movies say, “I’m a good person,” refusing to bite a child.

This is the difference. The war between “the little” and “the good.” The ruthless, cruel, mindless, unscrupulous, filthy little people — and the good people. If the civilization shaped around the question “Am I a good person?” loses, Gerasim will consistently drown dogs, and Raskolnikov will methodically kill old people. A new Z-swastika, sanctified by the “great russian culture,” will leave no chance for anything human. Anywhere in the world. White Fang will never find its Weedon Scott, and Private Ryan will be buried, unrecognized, in a mass grave.

* Vatnik – a political slur for people with post-soviet mentality who feel nostalgic for soviet times.

Mychailo Wynnyckyj: Thoughts from Kyiv. March 23

This is not just putin’s war! russia has invaded Ukraine, and without ordinary russians this war would be impossible.

Ukrainians are increasingly angered by the idiocy of liberal “experts” throughout the world who seek to exonerate the russian people from guilt in this war, claiming that it is exclusively “the putin regime” that is at fault.

Apparently this argument is being used to justify selective sanctions — those that affect non-economic activities in russia. For example, according to the “liberals” (they also call themselves “humanists” and they claim their actions to be “tolerant”), it would seem that not all universities, and not all academics should be faulted for russia’s invasion of Ukraine. After-all, lecturers and researchers can’t possibly influence kremlin decisions.

This position is not only immoral, it is wrong. The russian people elected putin 4 times! One can claim that these elections were not fair because of media bias, because the regime instilled fear in the population, because of whatever real or unreal facts of undue influence on the electorate… But the end result of these elections each time was that the majority of russians elected putin as their President!

The purpose of education and culture is, in the first instance, to educate and acculture. In other words, the goal is to instill a worldview rooted in morality, and to promote actions that lead to the betterment of humanity. If the education system and the institutions of culture fail to achieve these goals, those involved in these spheres must be deemed either failures or co-conspirators.

Whether we are referring to “high: culture or to its “pop” counterpart makes little difference. Whether we are referring to the system of schooling or to higher education also makes little difference. In each case, the end goal was to “civilize” or at least to expand worldviews, to understand that which is different, to improve the lot of humanity… In these endeavors russia has failed.

I attach here two videos: one of a choir singing in St. Isaac’s Cathedral in st. petersburg, the other of a public address by the students of the prestigious moscow institute for international relations (link in first comment).

The words of the choir (my translation):

In a submarine with a little nuclear engine

And a few dozen bombs, each just shy of a hundred megatons…

Having crossed the Atlantic I call to the target officer

Aim, I say, Petrov at the city of Washington!

Trulala, trulala, I will do anything for 3 roubles.

Greetings, you unfriendly New World,

And in a little airplane overhead, my friend Vovochka

Flies in as a guest — not with empty bomb bays…

In our submarine with its little nuclear engine

The crew sings merrily:

Trulala, trulala, I can will do anything for 3 roubles

Burn, burn you unfriendly land!

Sweetly they dream in Norfolk, their lights on the beach

The tired toys asleep; the negroes quietly doze…

Forgive us America, beautiful America,

But 500 years ago you were discovered in vain.

Trulala, trulala, I can will do anything for 3 roubles

Burn half the world — the unfriendly part.

Now the address by students of the highly prestigious moscow international relations institute (my translation):

Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelensky!

We, the students of the Faculty of Management and Politics of MIRI, appeal to you as the person who is responsible for the fate of tens of millions of Ukrainians, with whom we are connected by a thousand year history. We are one people.

For the second week now, the russian armed forces are conducting a special operation in Ukraine’s cities. Its purpose is to end the war that started 8 years ago in the Donbas.

Your grandfather fought together with ours in the trenches to rid the earth of the plague of Nazism. They dreamed of a better future for their grandchildren.

We wish to live with our Ukrainian brothers in peace and harmony, as it was for centuries.

In 2019, during the election campaign in Ukraine, you promised to end the war in the Donbas, where young people like us for years were bombed and shelled just because they are russians. You today can end this war.

At MIRI we are always taught that when diplomacy fails, war begins. We believe the war will be ended through diplomacy.

The president of russia has stated that stabilization of the situation in Ukraine requires de-nazification and de-militarization of the country, proclamation of Ukraine’s neutrality, and recognition of russia’s sovereignty over Crimea.

Recently, you yourself stated that all you have received from NATO is some diesel fuel.

No one more than us wants peace between our peoples.

Our armed forces do not kill innocent civilians!

This is done by the hands of nationalist battalions that are not under your command.

Our grandfathers were victorious over the plague of Nazism, not in order for this disease to again raise its head.

russia has never abandoned its own, and will never abandon the people of the Donbas — whatever the cost.

So find the courage in yourself, and do what is demanded of you by both our peoples.

It is too easy and convenient to state that the cultural and educational spheres are somehow “apolitical.”

It is too easy and convenient for russian professors, researchers, scientists, lecturers, artists, actors, singers, conductors, musicians… to claim that the current humanitarian disaster in Ukraine is a result of the actions of “the regime.” If students of one of the most prestigious institutes of russia believe that their country’s forces are not killing civilians in Ukraine, their educators (and all educators in russia!) are responsible for tolerating a system of false propaganda that makes this possible.

It is too easy and convenient to claim that somehow all of russia (every single citizen!!!) is not responsible for the war in Ukraine. Particular responsibility lies with those whose profession is to work with ideas, to teach critical thinking, to expand worldviews. They have failed miserably. And their failure has resulted in a catastrophe that simply cannot go unpunished.

The global community must ensure FULL sanctions on russia. All academic ties, all cultural ties, all exchanges, all projects, all joint research, all support for students (even those “trapped” outside of russia in western universities), everything MUST BE STOPPED!!!

russia must be isolated, and every russian citizen must understand that he/she are an accessory to the murder of Ukrainians. Their educational system and their cultural sphere has failed to instill a sense of responsibility in them. Now the international community must compensate.

We all will be better for it in the long run.

#ThoughtsfromKyiv

​​Olena Stiazhkina: Kyiv. March 24

“I really want that chocolate, but no, I can do without it.” “It doesn’t hurt that much. No need to go to the hospital.” “Don’t take that water. They need it more.” “What do you mean — get some rest? They won’t make it without me.”

Our life is not as horrible as theirs. We are not in the trenches. My loved ones are safe and sound. Electricity is available. Grocery stores are open.

All my friends, close and distant, often (in fact, all the time) talk about a deep sense of shame. A shame to live when others are dying; a shame to eat when people out there are starving; a shame to desire something when so many people have no desires whatsoever.

Psychologists call this feeling “survivor’s guilt.” Well… I would not be so sure. We are “survivors” at this moment. The minute I am writing this line.

At this moment, we are not in the trenches, and the electricity is available. It is curious, though, that the soldiers defending us on the frontlines sometimes (not all the time, I hope) feel guilty too: for doing something not well enough; for not being on the battlefield; for being alive; for not doing more.

I am not thinking about the normal/abnormal state of mental health against the backdrop of a large-scale war with the cannibals.

I am thinking about them, the cannibals “repeating their grandfathers’ heroic deeds” and their slogan: “I am not ashamed.”

Fuck you. Our country is choking on the feeling of guilt for all the could-haves and should-haves, while the I-am-not-ashamed hashtags stick out of the abyss of hell.  

Not ashamed to kill, loot, rape, and piss their pants after being captured. Not ashamed to know that they target their missiles and drop their bombs on civilians. Not ashamed to be happy about getting a fur coat looted from an apartment whose owners were most probably murdered. Not ashamed to lie; not ashamed to curse; not ashamed to threaten the whole world with a naked ass crowned with the nuclear button.

But now I understand why.

The feelings of shame and guilt indicate the ability of the brain to process difficult emotions. It has not been established yet whether cats and dogs can feel shame. Well, it’s clear with the cats. At the house where a cat lives, everything belongs to the cat — it is its two-legged slave who must be ashamed. It gets more complicated with dogs. They are believed to pretend to feel shame or guilt. At least, they can fake it.   

But russians? No. In the surrounding world, some animals can feel shame, but plants, minerals, and products of human labor — cannot. A rock, a rose, a tank cannot feel ashamed. Can a russian be a rose? Definitely not.

Their bragging about being shameless resonates with what Kyivan prince Sviatoslav said (or is believed to say): “The dead have no shame.” It’s just that the prince said that in a heroic context, not in today’s shitty circumstances.

But the idea is good.

They are not ashamed because they are dead.

Dead.

So, the Ukrainian army not only defends us all — they bring word and deed to the common denominator. If you, an I-am-not-ashamed one, are dead, you belong to the cemetery of russian warships.

Valerii Pekar: The West still thinks that there will be no Third World War, though it has been there for already a month. March 24

Thus, a month has elapsed.

What have we learnt over this month of heated war?

ABOUT OURSELVES:

1. We have really changed over eight years.
2. Ukraine is united, all regional divisions are in the past. Identity of the Ukrainian political nation has united everyone, regardless of origin, place of residence, language, confession, etc.
3. We are capable of forgetting about political quarrels for the period of war — both politicians, and the society.
4. We have finally realized the value of state — since we always valued the country, but were disrespectful about the state.
5. The society of free people always wins over the society of slaves — not just because a free person is better educated and motivated (it can be just the opposite), but because free people are capable of creating more effective systems.
6. We can be brand No. 1 in the world.

ABOUT THE ENEMY:

1. The second largest army of the world turned out to really be very large, but very poorly organized, poorly trained and unmotivated.
2. Degrading of the russian systems caused by the country’s immersion into the past has gone much farther than anybody has thought.
3. russian economy is not that independent and self-sufficient as they thought. Modern economy is related to a million of other ties, and cutting of even some of them may appear to be fatal for whole sectors.
4. They have been repeating their myths that there is no Ukrainian people for so long that they have finally believed in them, and that has been a fatal mistake.

ABOUT THE WEST:

1. The weakness of the West was heavily overestimated, the same as its scattered nature. At a critical moment the West turned out to be stronger and more united than expected.
2. The West does not manage to adjust its vision, it is some two weeks late as compared to the pace of the current events. In general, the West is still in the captivity of the old models.
3. Values do win over interests, though not everywhere and not always. In the modern world the betrayal of declared values may cost much money.
4. The West still thinks that there will be no Third World War, though it has been there for already a month.

Taras Prokhasko: The (M)ap(E) of Europe. March 24

Oddly enough. tsar peter the great remains to be the russkie hero. This is the odd thing about it. For he (in some of our lands, they also say “the one”) may serve as a symbolic key to the true russian tragedy. The so-called creator of the empire, of the russianness and all related things, gave rise to the entire russkie madness and mania.

He was the one to have turned the trail of moscowia towards Europe. His autocratic incontestable and destructive idea of reforms valid for generations of moscovites, and the “cutting the window on Europe” triggered all the mishaps with identity loss that have been chasing the bastardly moscowia for many centuries now.

Moskals used to be there. They were bastards already because the periphery of Rus was so remote that it hardly had anything left, due to all those Tatars and Mongols, Ugrians and the Finns. They used to have their unique experience of a special social pact where no one was obliged to anyone. No reproach, submission only.

peter employed the submission methods and brought various whimsical innovations that included whatever he liked in Europe. And the schizophrenia went rolling. Killing their genuine moscovite identity, the newborn russia started raking through the second-hand European ideas, putting on the outfits absolutely uncommon for their nature and customs. A nice overcoat jacket for the natural-born destroyer.

From that very moment on, russia has become the ape of Europe expanding their aping to their actual Eurasia. It got to the point where they had nothing genuine left. But the nature did not allow the room for culture. The entire story is like the lethal biology and genetics of Lysenko. Watermelons on poplar trees widely replicated in millions of central newspapers.

When using all things alien, they degraded their own. By the way, degrading is an innate strategy of the state. In fact, that is why they hate pederasts so much. Because it is hard for them to figure out how they could be humiliated in any common way.

Of special interest will be to explore what they call as the “priority of domestic science” (Gosh, how long it had to take us to stop calling russkie crap as our own, the “domestic”). They actually invented everything. Radio was invented not by Marconi but by popov. Steam engine was made by someone of their own. And the watch was designed (think of it!) by kulibin. This goes for everything. The fog of lies in our throats is so annoying, like the daily shifts served in the madhouse.

The best manifestation of russian skill was a lefty. When everything was crashing down and there was not anyone available to knock a nail on the gate, when everything was managed by Germans in russia, the ingenious left-handed craftsman managed to shoe the steel flea nobody actually needed. Moreover, the flea did not need it itself.

The big aping results in a situation when all things they have are not genuine, buffoon-ish, and horribly cruel. It also produces two other things, such as the ape’s hatred towards everything it can hardly ape, and the fellow-feeling from those the ape is aping – what a skillful little pet!

We can be left with one thing only. Fatigue from all that mockery of cosmogenesis. Every aping may cause the rage of those who are forced to engage in that unfunny cruel circus show.

I remember one episode when I felt extremely sorry for russians. It was in Amalfi. Two ladies lost their way, and turned out to be the hermitage museum workers. It was their first time in Italy they have been yearning for every day. For all of their lives, they have researched in their bastard world something really truthful. They were not able to find their way out of the labyrinth of alleys in the city. When asking for help, the last thing they wanted was to be identified as russkies. But it was impossible.

Olena Stiazhkina: Kyiv. March 26

Cafés, bakeries, and small farmer markets are open in Kyiv. I have a list of things the territorial defense forces need, and I can easily get all of them at a supermarket. Still, we stop by every coffee booth and every street vendor. I am patient. The coffee can be suspended; sausage or sauerkraut can qualify as off-the-list treats. If we stop in good time, we’ll end up with only half a barrel of sauerkraut. And even less sausage. Slightly short of ten kilos.

But when we stop by the bakery with its aroma of fresh-baked bread and pastry, I finally lose my patience. “No!” I shout. “No pastry!”

You can’t stop the wind blowing in the right direction.

He goes out of the bakery with a crate of cinnamon buns. In pre-war life, they were called “Cinnabon.” You need special accessories to eat them in the street. Napkins or wet wipes and plates or at least a piece of paper to hold these treats in your hands. You can’t fit a cinnamon roll in your mouth with a single bite.

“I can’t eat as much!”

“It’s not for you! This is off the list.”

“Someone has already brought Napoleon cake off the list…”

“And what happened? Did the soldiers conquer moscow?”

“Nope. The commander said it was not the right time for Napoleon cake or other pastry. It made people gassy. Got it?”

“Well… Let’s get them over to the military hospital then.”

I give him a hospital-food look.

“Alright. Let’s just give them away to passers-by. We’ll just stand here and treat people to cinnamon rolls. Like father frost.”

“Santa!” I yell. People in the street throw sympathetic glances my way. Anyone can go mad in whatever way they like. But I am not mad, no. “Santa Claus, not father muscovite! I wish to hell he’d die!”

The passers-by are smiling. They take my side.

“Alright, alright,” he says, frowning at his defeat. “Then let’s make dry biscuits out of them. A sack or two.”

“Why did you buy them in the first place?”

“It’s all about the economy, Lionia. Someone has to keep it going. And I will be this ‘someone’ as long as I have money in my pocket.”

“Okay, let it be biscuits.”

Today it was sunny, windy, rainy, and cold. It’s February all over. The same February as thirty-two days ago.

Oksana Stomina: Hooray Mariupol! March 26

I often recall this episode and relive it over and over again. I will remember it forever. Driving through the occupied Tokmak, we saw yellow-and-blue flags in the central square. The locals gathered for a rally. That scene made us cry with joy. We honked, and they all turned toward the road, toward us, and shouted, “Hooray Mariupol!” And all that among the orcs that stared at us, dumbfounded, as if they saw ghosts. Can you really call a town like that occupied? No way.

No matter how hard the invaders try to conquer our lands, a sincere Ukrainian soul will remain free and invincible! They know it — and they piss their pants.

Sorry for being rude. It’s only until the victorious end of the war for Ukraine — that is, only for a short while!

Slava Ukraini!*

* Glory to Ukraine!

Mychailo Wynnyckyj: Could it be that Ukrainian nationalism (patriotism)
is not really nazi? March 26

“De-nazification” is one of russia’s supposed military objectives in Ukraine, supposedly justified because Ukraine has an obvious problem with well armed far-right xenophobic nationalist groups.

Somehow this statement is difficult to put together with this photo: the red and black flag is supposed to be the primary “nationalist” symbol; how could it possibly be congruent with a star of David?

Could it be that Ukrainian nationalism (patriotism) is not really nazi? Then what are russians doing in Ukraine? Is it possible that putin is the Nazi?

For those not in tune with my sarcasm: red and black is indeed the flag of Ukrainian patriot volunteer fighters, but to call these people xenophobic or “Nazi” is to propagate kremlin propaganda.

#ThoughtsfromKyiv

The editorial “rule of small letters” or the “rule of disrespect for criminals” applies to all the words related to evil, like names and surnames of terrorists, war criminals, rapists, murderers, and torturers. They do not deserve being capitalized but shall be written in italics to stay in the focus of the readers’ attention. 

The program “Wars. Ukrainians. Humanity” has been created by joint effort and with the financial support of the institution’s members of the Cultural Business Education Hub, the European Cultural Foundation, and BBK — the Regensburg Art and Culture Support Group from the Professional Association of Artists of Lower Bavaria/Upper Palatinate.

Authors: Oksana Stomina, Olena Stiazhkina, Valerii Pekar, Taras Prokhasko, Mychailo Wynnyckyj

Translators (from Ukrainian): Hanna Leliv (Oksana Stomina’s & Olena Stiazhkina’s essays), Halyna Pekhnyk (Valerii Pekar’s essay), Svitlana Bregman (Taras Prokhasko’s essay)

Illustrators: Victoria Boyko (Oksana Stomina’s & Olena Stiazhkina’s essays, Mychailo Wynnyckyj’s essay on March 26), Christina Katrakis (Mychailo Wynnyckyj’s essay on March 23), plasticine panel by Olha Protasova, Yuliya Tabenska (Taras Prokhasko’s essay), Max Palenko (Valerii Pekar’s essay)

Copyeditors: Yuliia Moroz, Terra Friedman King

Proofreaders: Iryna Andrieieva, Tetiana Vorobtsova, Terra Friedman King

Content Editors: Maryna Korchaka, Natalia Babalyk

Program Directors: Julia Ovcharenko and Demyan Om Dyakiv-Slavitski