From: Maia Mikhaluk in Kyiv (1139th day).
Recently, World Press Photo paired two images side-by-side: a Ukrainian child, traumatized by missile attacks, crippled by panic attacks and fear —and wounded ruzzian invader.
They called it “balance.” But this is not balance. It is moral confusion disguised as compassion. The Ukrainian child never had a choice. She did not choose to live under missile fire. She did not choose to grow up learning what fear sounds like when it falls from the sky. The ruzzian soldier made his choice — to cross a border, to carry a weapon, to serve an army of invasion.
When we place the suffering of the aggressor alongside the suffering of the victim as if they are somehow equal, we are not being empathetic — we are blurring the truth.
This kind of false equivalence helps the world feel less responsible. It soothes guilty consciences. It lets people excuse their own indifference. It allows crimes to seem tragic but inevitable, instead of what they are – the direct result of choices, power, and violence.
Not all pain is the same. Not all suffering is innocent. Justice demands that we see clearly: who attacked, who defended, who had no voice, who had no choice. Confusing victims with perpetrators does not heal wounds — it deepens them.
There is no “both sides” when one side bombs children.
Voice of Ukraine 