Ukraine is in war. So are we. It doesn’t matter if you are some regular pub chap from The Museum Vaults, a housewife from Pallion, a gardener from Grangetown, or a geologist from Tallinn. If you care about humanity, you should choose a side and take your position!
Being a Sunderland supporter from Estonia, Ukrainian war reached me having a big hangover next morning after our Wembley League Cup final in London, March 2014.
We had checked out from our hotel and had about eight hours to wait for our flight back to Estonia from Stansted, so we decided to spend a few hours in a random pub close to Liverpool Street station to feel the London vibe instead of Stansted vibe.
Sky News broadcasted Russian invasion to Crimean Peninsula. We looked around the pub and it seemed like nobody gave a shit! But we Estonians were scared, our biggest wish was now to get back to Estonia as quick as possible to defend our country, because for us it was clear that something big has just started. Surprisingly Russia didn’t act at full scale in 2014, they “only” occupied Crimean Peninsula and parts of Eastern Ukraine, shot down the Flight MH17, killed few hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers and civilians over next few years. In world’s eyes, war in Ukraine turned to business as usual...
This year, in February 24, in the early hours of the Estonian Independence Day, Ukrainian conflict took a new turn. Russia introduced the real face of the Russkiy mir. It’s a wordplay, as Russkiy mir in Russian means both Russian world and Russian peace. The main goal for Russkiy mir is to restore the Soviet Union at its “correct” borders, the Russian empire in general and not to care much about the feelings and the will of nations who have lived at those territories for already thousands of years and whose only connection with “mother Russia” are memories of wars, deportations, migration, general poverty and of course an excellent collection of Russian swearing words that has had a bigger cultural impact on occupied nations than Alexander Pushkin’s poems or Leo Tolstoy’s literary masterpiece „War and Peace“, nowadays thanks to Russian propaganda known as „Special Operation and Peace“...
I was born in Soviet Union. I was 12 when Estonia re-achieved its independence thanks to our very own Singing Revolution and when the Soviet Union collapsed. I know the value of freedom. I’ve had the privilege to spend most of my life in free Estonia, to raise my kids in a free country, and this is the only way of life I accept. If an aggressor attacks my country, I will step up the same as Ukrainians for their country at the very same minute. It’s a privilege to be Estonian, it’s a privilege to live in free Estonia and it would be an honor to die for the country and the people I love the most.
Full-scale war in Ukraine has lasted a month already. Ukrainians fight for their country, even Ukrainian Russians fight for Ukraine, because Russian Blietzkrieg and their absurd dream about local people welcoming invaders with flowers have fallen to pieces. Ukraine fights for its freedom because there is no other Free Ukraine waiting around the corner. They love Ukraine and die for Ukraine. Russians have changed their tactics and their “joyful march on Kyiv” has been replaced with artillery bombardment against civilians. Call it whatever you like but it’s genocide! After finding out very quickly that they can’t beat Ukrainian armed forces, Russia chose the way of terror. Russians bomb residential areas, they bombard and shoot civilian evacuation corridors, they bomb hospitals, including children’s hospitals, they use nuclear plants as shelters for their troops... They do it all in a very Russian way. It’s not a big shock for Eastern European as myself, because I’ve always known that Russian authorities have not respect for human life, even for the lives of fellow Russians. If you have a Chuck-Norris-like czar, a TV full of hate propaganda and a vision of Russkiy mir, you can enjoy this Orwellian world even if your everyday life sucks. It’s hard to explain, but it’s Russia today.
Dear fellow Sunderland supporters. Please do not consider war in Ukraine “business as usual”. Right now, Ukrainians are fighting for free Europe and for the entire free world. Please do not get war weary. Right now, civilians die in Ukraine. People are killed by bombs, but very soon famine also could take its toll...
Please show your support for Ukrainians! Please don’t feed the Russian trolls posting texts in social media describing war in Ukraine as “war”, please stop bullshitting social media with arguments as if the war in Ukraine was just a misunderstanding between “the Slavic brothers” ... Ukraine and Russia are no brothers, they never have been! They share a branch on the language tree, but Ukrainian language is much closer to Belarussian and Polish than Russian. They are no brothers! Nobody can accept a brother who acts like putin does.
I beg you, my fellow Sunderland supporters, to make an effort and to keep supporting Ukraine continuously. For humanitarian aid I suggest using British Red Cross. But if feel like supporting Ukrainian Army in their fight against the aggressor, you can use this safe link at National Bank of Ukraine.
I didn’t mention MH17 earlier accidentally. I bet that many of you feel that there is still unfinished business from North-East of England from the summer of 2014... Ukrainian Army needs your support! Feel free to share my article to your Mag friends.
Ha’way the Lads!
Слава Україні!
