Voice of Ukraine

From: Ira Kapitonova in Kyiv (Day 1110)

Oh, grant us help against the foe,
for vain is the salvation of man!
With God we shall do valiantly;
it is he who will tread down our foes.
Psalm 60:11-12

Every morning, I am determined to write a post here. I have several thoughts throughout the day but never enough time to write something. By evening, so much has changed that my thoughts are no longer relevant, and I am so exhausted from fighting all the lies and misinformation.

We’ve been through this in 2022. We were trying to explain the truth to the world. It is so much easier to fact-check today than in WWII days! Someone shared the conversation they had with their relatives in russia. Having presented all the facts, they got a response, “I don’t want to think for myself. It’s so much easier to believe my president.” And that’s the heart of the problem – “I don’t want to think for myself!”
One of the things I teach my students is to question things, research them, and test them for themselves because being a teacher doesn’t make me infallible and leaves me a human.

I keep deciding to ignore it, but lies and hypocrisy stab me in the heart. You know, I sometimes ask my students, “Well, it looks like you couldn’t be kind with your words, but did you need to be cruel?” This question often comes to my mind when I read news from the US.

We are incredibly grateful for the military aid we received. We can respect (and will do our best to understand) your decision not to provide further aid. But would you please stop there? Would you please not degrade to being cruel?

The US administration banned sharing intelligence reports that could save lives during air raids. Does it cost extra money to do that? Tell us the price, and let us fundraize for that if it does, but don’t side with the enemy.

Today, they halted support for Ukrainian F-16 aircraft (the US administration ordered the cessation of vital support for the jamming systems of the fighter jets that enhance their ability to counter russian threats). Does that cost money? Set the price tag on everything and let us buy out the lives of Ukrainian pilots.

You backed out from previous agreements on the military aid already on its way to Ukraine. That military aid included air-defense rockets. Set the price on the hundreds of civilians who will be killed by russian rockets without our air defense and let us buy them out.

Don’t you understand that by pursuing your gain in this war and suspending military aid until Ukraine is “sufficiently punished,” the US is siding with russia and will end up responsible for the casualties? That’s what russia is trying to achieve, but I doubt this is the kind of legacy the people of the US want to have.

Please call your government representatives. Tell them how you feel about Ukraine. You don’t need to ask them to provide military aid to Ukraine. Just ask them not to side with our enemy and not to take our weapons away.

Today’s picture shows a monument of Taras Shevchenko, a prominent Ukrainian poet, in Borodianka, Kyiv region, less than an hour away from Kyiv. The town was occupied and liberated in the spring of 2022. The monument was shot in the head several times. March 9 is Taras Shevchenko’s birthday, and his words are timeless.