Editors Note: This guest editorial was published early Thursday in the independent, online publication Ukrainian Pravda (Ukrainian Truth) in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n
I am Ukrainian!<\/p>\n
On Feb. 24, at 5 a.m. Kyiv time, we woke up to a new Ukraine and a new world.<\/p>\n
A world that was imposed on us. A world that lives not by laws, but by the concepts of thugs with nuclear weapons.<\/p>\n
The territory of Ukraine is clearly visible on the map of this world.<\/p>\n
It is a map of the missile strikes that Russia has carried out from Lugansk to Ivano-Frankivsk, from Sumy to Kharkiv, from Kherson to Kolomyia, from Kryvyi Rih to Lutsk.<\/p>\n
Today we are united by love and hatred love of freedom and hatred of Putins Russia together with its dictator, obedient majority and spiritual crosses.<\/p>\n
Our only fault is that we want to be masters of our own house to find a way, to make mistakes, to correct mistakes, to build a future without regard to the phobias and complexes of our northern neighbor.<\/p>\n
For eight years now, Ukraine has been in the club of countries that have felt the fraternal embrace of Russia.<\/p>\n
By 5 a.m. on Feb. 24, this embrace was awkwardly disguised as hybridism and ikhtamnet (they are not there).<\/p>\n
By now, the masks have been thrown off.<\/p>\n
Evil has shown its unconcealed grin of peace. Only those who have completely lost the ability to see and analyze can talk about not everything is so clear-cut today.<\/p>\n
What to do when missiles fall on our cities?<\/p>\n
Recall British Prime Minister Winston Churchills speech on May 3, 1940, after Britain entered World War II.<\/p>\n
You will ask me, what is our political course? I answer: to wage war at sea, on land and in the air, with all the power and strength that God gives us; to wage war against a terrible tyranny that surpasses any human crime. This is our course.<\/p>\n
What, you may ask, is our goal? I can answer in one word: victory, victory at any cost, victory in spite of all horror, victory no matter how long and difficult the road may be; because without victory there will be no life.<\/p>\n
At 5 a.m. on Feb. 24, along with the first Russian missiles falling on Ukrainian territory, the era of post-truth ended for the world.<\/p>\n
Along with its hybrid worries, understatements and non-binding phrases.<\/p>\n
Today everything is clear. It is a time of utmost simplicity and honesty.<\/p>\n
Freedom will never become slavery.<\/p>\n
The war unleashed by Russia is a crime against humanity and humanity, even if it is called a thousand times special operation, denazification and peace enforcement.<\/p>\n
Dictatorship and democracy have nothing in common.<\/p>\n
And if the world does not realize this even now well, so much the worse for the world.<\/p>\n
On June 26, 1963, in front of the Schneberg Town Hall in West Berlin, then U.S. President John F. Kennedy gave a speech that went down in history as I am Berliner.<\/p>\n
Kennedy flew in to be with the people of that city, who have been cut off from the world since Putins spiritual advisors erected the Berlin Wall.<\/p>\n
May the speechwriters of the American president forgive us. We will replace just a few words in this text.<\/p>\n
Here is a snippet of this speech, written seemingly today and specifically for us.<\/p>\n
For 2,000 years a winged phrase has been I am a citizen of Rome. Today, in the free world, it should sound like this: I am Ukrainian.<\/p>\n
There are many people in the world who really dont understand, or say they dont understand, what is the biggest problem between the free world and Russia.<\/p>\n
Let them come to Kyiv.<\/p>\n
There are those who say Putins Russia is the idea of the future.<\/p>\n
Let them come to Kyiv.<\/p>\n
And there are those who say that both in Europe and anywhere else we can cooperate with Russia.<\/p>\n
Let them come to Kyiv.<\/p>\n
And there are even those who say that yes, Putins Russia is an evil system, but this doesnt prevent us from cooperating with it in economy.<\/p>\n
Let them come to Kyiv.<\/p>\n
All free people, no matter where they live, are citizens of Ukraine.<\/p>\n
Therefore, as a free man I proudly declare: I am Ukrainian!<\/p>\n
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Original post:<\/p>\n
Guest editorial | Dictatorship and democracy have nothing in common - TribDem.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Editors Note: This guest editorial was published early Thursday in the independent, online publication Ukrainian Pravda (Ukrainian Truth) in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. I am Ukrainian! On Feb Continue reading