Russian Invasion of Ukraine - Part 3
Current state of the war & updates from the 21-year-old Ukrainian xenia in Kharkiv
As the Russian war with Ukraine drags on into its sixth day, there is as of yet no sign that the barrage of international condemnation, boycotts, sanctions, and other measures is slowing down. There is even serious talk of admitting Ukraine into the European Union, with Ukrainian president Zelensky signing a formal request to join the 27-country bloc on Monday. Although this is a complicated process that is likely to take years, the move without a doubt carries a huge symbolic weight.
On the other hand, the Russian attacks are also far from slowing down, and the bombing of cities appears to be intensifying. As talks between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations were taking place along the border with the neighbouring Belarus, there were reports of rockets striking the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, the second largest city in the country.
The 21-year-old Ukrainian xenia, who is sheltering inside a metro station in the city of Kharkiv, described the situation of yesterday (28/02) evening in a Telegram message:
“They've been bombing the city the whole day from what I understand. They're not trying to hit any specific military or logistic targets, but just bombing residential areas, places where people live, including children. If I'm being honest, panic has been creeping in. I believe in our armed forces and the brave defenders fighting for my country and life. We'll stop the invaders. But I don't know if I'll see victory day. I've heard that there might be a possibility of the metro being cut off from food, as well as the rest of the city and a lot more people seeking shelter. I'll try to banish these worries, there's nothing I can do but stay calm and help others. If it comes to that, I've written out last messages to people dear to me and scheduled them way back on the 24th. In a way I'm ready for whatever might come, it's just strange to live knowing your own last words. No one should live like this.
I have to end this with some good news. My mom is with me. I already mentioned that. Fuck. Yesterday I talked with a woman living on the train seats across me and she turned out to be trans-accepting. That was good. I hope tomorrow I'll just be busy. It's unsafe to evacuate and unclear how we can do that, even unsafely. I hope I'm just busy tomorrow and won't have time to panic.”
Russian war goals
The Russian invasion that began last week and the Russian forces’ subsequent advance towards Kyiv in what appears to be an attempt to topple the government took many experts and foreign policy analysts by surprise. In the speech that was broadcast on 24 February as the invasion was underway, President Putin stated that the goal of the “special military operation” was to force Ukraine to adopt a “neutral status”, and to “demilitarise” and “denazify” the country of 43 million people.
A few days ago, RT, a Russian state-controlled news network, stated that Russia was ready to start talks on Ukraine only if these “essential” demands were met. Whether or not Russia’s claims that they do not intend to occupy Ukraine can be believed, does not really matter much. Whatever remains of the Ukrainian state after a Russian military victory is hardly likely to be independent. These preconditions for talks between the two adversaries have since been dropped, as the first attempt at talks has taken place along the border with the neighbouring country of Belarus on Monday (01/03). The hostilities are still ongoing, however, and it seems unlikely that any kind of diplomatic agreement can be reached soon.
According to xenia, the Russian claims that Ukraine is a threat and that the country needs to be denazified are nonsense:
“The denazification thing is part of the Russian fairytale about how Ukraine has been overrun by far-right nationalists and neo-nazis since the 2014 revolution. Not true of course. Yeah, like other places we've got our racists and shitheads, but they're nowhere near any real political power. I think in the last election only one parliament seat was won by the far-right party (dropped compared to previous cycles). We've elected Zelensky pretty much without the usual west-east divide and he ran his entire campaign on centrist populism. The Russian claims just aren't true. They said they're “liberating and protecting ethnic minorities”, but who the fuck would look at the invaders and thank them? They ruined countless lives, disrupted the whole country, murdered folk. Even the idiots who just eat the shit served by the Russian propaganda campaign (like my grandmother) had their lives significantly worsened. My grandma can't do anything. She's stuck on the 16th floor with the elevator out of commission, that is if her building hasn't been hit yet. She might never talk to her daughter and granddaughter again, given she survives herself. No one is being fucking “protected”.”
Over the past few days, decades happened
So far, around 677,000 refugees have fled Ukraine, with many more expected to follow. Right now, over 100,000 people are fleeing into Poland each day. Satellites have photographed kilometres and kilometres of Russian military vehicle convoys heading for Kyiv. Nevertheless, Ukraine’s President Zelensky is still determined to stay in Kyiv. Since the beginning of the invasion, the comedian turned president turned national hero has been fiercely and tirelessly asking Europe for assistance. On Friday (25/02), he was asking for the cessation of visas for Russians, a disconnection from SWIFT, full isolation of Russia, withdrawal of ambassadors, an oil embargo, and the closing of air space, passionately saying that: “Today, everything should be on the table, because it’s about the threat to us, all of us, to the entire Europe. When bombs fall on Kyiv, it happens in Europe, not just in Ukraine.” Now, several days later, most of what he has asked for has happened. This includes measures that a week ago were completely unthinkable, like the European Union supplying Ukraine with weapons. The historical significance of this cannot be overstated. The European Union was founded to achieve “a peaceful, united and prosperous Europe”, and this is the first time that the organisation is directly supplying other countries with weapons of war. While it might help the Ukrainian army slow down the Russian advance, this influx of weapons and military support also carries with it enormous dangers. At the beginning of the invasion, Putin said: “No one should have any doubts that a direct attack on our country will lead to the destruction and horrible consequences for any potential aggressor.” This warning from the leader of the country with the largest nuclear arsenal in the world could not be more clear. Nor should his recent announcement that Russia’s nuclear forces will be put on high alert, in direct response to the economic sanctions and the “aggressive statements” of NATO countries, be taken lightly.
“First day of spring. I guess that brings hope too.”
Only a few hours ago, as I was about to publish this article, I received a flurry of messages and pictures from xenia about today (01/03):
“Sixth day. First day of spring. I guess that brings hope too. I feel better today. I don't really remember how the day started. They were giving away water near the metro station and I went up to get some. We have running water down here but you have to boil it before you can drink. It was the first time in three days I've seen the sky.
I'll talk a little bit about our neighbor Inna. She was living on the train seats right across me and mom. We talked a bit before and she's the one I said was trans-accepting. She's a very pleasant lady, whenever me and mom are away from our place on the train, she left us some food that they were giving out at the time. We once came back to discover two huge cake slices (I assume there's a lot of sweet things in the city that will spoil soon, so they're sending it all down here, it's cookieland over here). She's very caring. We spent a lot of time talking today telling a hilarious horror story about buying a live rooster for a dish and having to deal with it in the center of the city. I won't do the story justice by retelling it now.
We also talked to the toxic family that lives on the seats next to us. It was good to hear them laugh. I much prefer that to the abuse they keep tossing around like a hot potato from one to the other. At some point Inna deftly told the mom of the toxic family to sometimes try masturbating to relax, said that it's good. That really warmed my heart. The whole day today I feel more connected with people living here. I guess this is what people used to call “having neighbors” back when we had to know our neighbors. there's a phrase I can't quite translate — 'по домашнему' [red. Google Translate translates it as ‘at home’]. It means a sort of domestic familiarity in behavior and interaction with others. I think I felt that today, and it felt like something good and normal for once. I felt like I was part of a community of struggling commiserating people, but those struggles just made us more capable of supporting each other. Inna left with a family, they had a car and decided to gamble and leave the city. I heard they got to a town in a neighboring region. Hopefully they are now making their way further away from the fighting.
I also talked to my mom a lot. I feel like I'm her rock in this. She's scared and tired and needs support. I'm glad I can provide that and it helps me when I help her. We also grabbed two books before coming down here: the Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring and a collection of short stories about love. We haven't even gotten past the prologue of the Lord of the Rings but the short stories are a hit with us. They're fucking awful. Maybe one of the eight or so stories we've read so far hasn't had any weird/toxic/scary relationship tendencies. We are truly shocked that some people would find these stories endearing. It's fun to critique and analyze these stories. I feel like I'm getting closer to my mom. I haven't talked with her this much in years, maybe ever. I'm very glad we're getting along. I'm also trying my hand at slowly dismantling the capitalist realism [red. the belief that capitalism is the only viable political and economic system] in her head but that's delicate work, though it's fascinating to hear her talk about her experiences and reflect on my own.
Then they called for people to transport supplies to other stations and I went in the tunnels again. Fun. This time I'm seeing organizational improvements across the board. It still needs more work and I'm doing what I can. I had to mark the supplies for specific stations on our line, so they don't get misplaced. I even left a nice wish on some of them.
I hope someone gets a laugh out of that. Laughter helps a lot.
Honestly one of the most positive and hopeful things I've seen in this war so far has been the reports of Russians deserting, surrendering or being taken prisoner, and seeing the Ukrainian armed forces still treat the invaders humanely (if anything about any of this can be called humane). We're all fucking victims of this war. It made me hopeful that the absurdity of this war and others might shine through brighter than ever before in history.
One last good thing before I log off. Today I've had two more trans-accepting (or at least trans-tolerant) interactions. The score in my warzone experience so far is:
acceptance – 4
bigotry – 0”
→ Want to help? Donate to organisations that are providing humanitarian assistance and evacuation:
The International Rescue Committee is providing food, medical care, and emergency support to families in Ukraine, as well as in Afghanistan, Syria, and Yemen.
Ukraine Take Shelter is an independent platform connecting Ukrainian refugees with potential hosts and housing.
The World Health Organization is providing urgent healthcare to people across Ukraine and to refugees in neighbouring countries.
CORE, the Community Organized Relief Effort, is a crisis response organisation that brings immediate aid and recovery to communities in emergency situations. They are currently providing cash assistance and other vital help to families fleeing Ukraine to Poland.
Note: Post has been updated to include more organisations and platforms that help Ukrainians.
Correction: The article previously read that Ukraine had a population of 1.4 million, instead of ~43 million. The city of Kharkiv has a population of 1.4 million.
To read more about what xenia has been going through since the Russian invasion began, go the articles below.
Read more about the complicated historical context of NATO and Russia's relationship:
Thank you for this. Truly speechless about what they are going through. Hoping Ukraine will prevail!