As someone with family and friends from Ukraine, I have many connections to the conflict. I am emotionally involved, which can affect my perspective. I want to stay positive, but I’ll be honest – this winter has taken a toll.
As we approach the one-year mark since the Russian invasion began, I still can’t believe the destruction wrought by one man’s imperial ambitions.
Who would have thought the city where my wife grew up would one day be bombed by Russia? Zaporizhzhia is a Russian-speaking city that once had stronger ties to Russia than to Europe. While proud Ukrainians, their relationship was similar to that between the US and Canada, bound to Russia economically and culturally. Now, mortal enemies.
Who would have thought the tiny city of Nikopol, where my sister-in-law lives, would became international news when attacked almost daily? Their town is across the reservoir from the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia power plant from which Russians fire freely, knowing they can’t be shot back at without risk of a nuclear accident. Some of her apartment building’s windows were blown out a few months ago by a nearby explosion.
Who would have thought most of Ukraine would be in the dark this winter? Our friends near Kyiv live without power for up to nine hours a day. Their daughter, who currently lives with us, will go back home in a week to see her dad off to war. The men in their suburb, located near Bucha and Irpin, are being conscripted en masse – anyone under 60 who doesn’t work for government is eligible to fight.
While I want to be hopeful about the ultimate outcome of this war, I can’t deny the future – certainly the immediate future – looks grim for ordinary Ukrainians.
Ukraine has the will to win, but Russia still holds the advantage of sheer numbers, with an ironclad dictator who may have convinced the Russian majority that they are in a battle against NATO.
The Russian “mass” we continually hear about is substantial, no matter how poorly trained. The willingness to allow over 200,000 soldiers to be killed and wounded in this first year of war would be too high for any other country to bear. Russia’s conscription of another 300,000 (most now in Ukraine) is unfathomable to the Western world, where even a fraction of that number would cause public outcries.
Whether willing or, more likely, unwilling, Russian conscripts are fighting in Ukraine. Those who couldn’t flee to other countries must fight or face imprisonment.
History informs us that countries who intervene on foreign soil can be stubbornly short-sighted, willing to pour resources into a losing cause for years. The US was active in Vietnam for eight years; the USSR in Afghanistan for nine years; the US in Afghanistan and Iraq for another 20. These destructive and ineffective military interventions were responsible for millions of lost lives.
Russia will certainly lose more than it ever could hope to gain, but it’s unknown what the breaking point will be. Time will only tell for how long Russia can sustain hundreds of casualties every day.
Ukrainians, on the other hand, suffer because they have to. Their future as a nation is at stake.
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