Ukrainian Stories
Ukrainian Stories
For younger generations war on the European continent is something only known in history classes. Violent greed and bloodthirsty imperialism are black pages filled with shame for western Europe and seen as something that we should never do again. This is the first war in Europe where the Netherlands has a modern media landscape with talkshows and social media. It is abundantly clear that it was a totally new area with a shift focus on what to tell the audience.
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The problem is that Dutch talkshows are filled with experts that focus on war-economics. The war is explained with numbers. There is a death toll and there are losses in equipment and that’s that. This signals an new and possibly incomplete form of mediamaking.
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One relatively unknown side of the last year are the stories of Ukrainians themselves. The stories Ukrainians have, are important and they desperately need to be told. This production contains three different stories of people in the field of academia which all have their own view on the consequences of seeing their country destroyed by war. They all have their own story that they want to tell the world.
Nataliia Voitovych
The calmness in her voice, while talking about such a heavy topic, is something that one notices instantly. The red clothing, the striking yet decent necklace and her intriguing eyes; Natallia Voitovych is a psychologist and a professor at the faculty of Journalism in Lviv.
But even as a psychologist, she sometimes can't cope up with the heart wrenching stories she hears from her Ukrainian students about the war.
‘I am a mother. And my son is your age”, she tells us with teary eyes. “ And I consider all of you as my children. Sometimes it is hard to realize that I am taking it upon myself; as a psychologist I shouldn't do that. But I do it as a woman and as a person. But especially as a mother.”
“If they come closer to Lviv, I will go to war: I will defend my country”
One can see she’s worried. It was a shocking realization that in the heart of Europe, in the midst of a civilized society, conflict and destruction had become a contemporary story, not just a chapter in history books or distant movie scenes. And it is not easy for her students to talk about it. “They saw all of these killings, all of these deaths, these massacres. So it will be a strong psychological trauma for all of them.”
For Voitovych, deeply connected to her students, it is both a source of worry and pride to witness their decision to join the war. She cherishes their bravery, even as she fears for their safety. The war has changed their lives and their perspectives, transforming their once peaceful classroom into a backdrop of uncertainty and courage.
But bravery isn’t restricted to the students. At the time this interview was taken, the situation in Lviv was stable. “The air danger is not on a high level, let's say. But drones are flying. They attack us with drones. However, in comparison to Kyiv and other cities, it's relatively calm. I chose for myself that I would stay. If they come closer to Lviv, I will go to war, no doubt about that. I will defend my country.”
“Don’t insult a dog by calling it Russian”
While her immediate fear during the war is for the safety of her students, she also has a deeper concern: the long-term psychological impact the war will leave on them. “ It's obvious that psychologists should work with them”, she tells us, taking a deep breath. “It won't be easy after the war. It won't be easy for those who were on the front line, nor who saw it from inside their houses.” Voitovych says her students tell her a lot about their trauma, caused by the war. “They realize that their parents are also traumatized. So then it is easier to tell me.” The translator for our interview with Voitovych, is silent for a moment. He finds it hard to deal with the information given by Voitovych, considering he’s a student himself.
Asking Voitovych about the expectations of the future, one can see hope and a little sparkle in her eyes, if you look closely. “We have to give time to those who are not ready to establish contact. We have to help those who are asking. And the most important thing is that the world does not forget about the tragedy that is happening now. It can't be repeated.”
“And please: I see a lot of media outlets comparing Russians with dogs, pigs or worms.” Her voice rises, while she still manages to keep the calmness. “Don’t insult a dog by calling it Russian; a dog is very friendly, gentle and devoted. Don't compare Russians to worms; they eat and dissolve the soil and make plants grow. Don’t compare Russians to pigs; pigs help humans. The Russians are like a cancerous tumor. Something that only brings hell to the people.”
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Asking her for the cure to that cancer, she remains silent for a moment. She looks at us and continues: “It will be a long process. They (the Russians) have been brainwashed from a young age. They have been told different things. We will need a transformation. We have two options.” She rises her thumb and index finger to symbolize the two. “Either this small man (Putin) will die. Or the whole world will pressurize him so much that he will fail. We need united pressure from the world against some disgusting small person that thinks of himself as a man.”
Yevhen Tsymbalenko
Professor Yevhen Tsymbalenko walked through the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan wearing a vyshyvanka, a traditional Ukranian shirt. He normally teaches classes about journalism and media at the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv but he is currently in Poland to help his students at the summer school programme. He has a calm presence and when talking about the war, he keeps being very thoughtful about the situation. His message to the world is “that we need to have peace, we need to have victory and we want to protect our democracy, our freedom and that we want to have a peaceful life.”
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Professor Tsymbalenko lives in Kyiv and says that the current situation is overseeable. “Kyiv is now the safest place in Ukraine because we got patrol systems against the missiles. But still we have parts of missiles which aren’t caught by patrol system and these parts can injure people or some equipment cars and buildings. But still, it isn’t as bad as being a target of entire missiles.”
For him, the war has changed mostly his view on his own culture. He explains that he is more concrete on his national identity and culture and doesn’t pay a lot of attention on the Russian Federation which is a country that doesn’t even believe Ukraine is a sovereign state. “I try to explain this to my students. I also say that when they choose for this school, they would never harm Ukraine.”
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“I try to explain this to my students. I also say that when they choose for this school, they would never harm Ukraine.”
His students have changed a lot during the year. “They are very afraid, they care about their families more strongly, they are using Ukrainian language and Ukrainian culture more and more with new power, with new efforts. And students are more self-confident and getting more mature.”
The war had a major impact on Tsymbalenko’s students. During the pandemic the university had to switch to blended learning which already worsened the education. When the full-scale invasion started, the university kept on providing online classes because some students were in shelters and others kept following their classes abroad. They changed the curriculum, so students didn’t need to be physically present at the university or need equipment.
Professor Tsymbalenko has done a lot of research on media and journalism, especially in Ukraine. He has noticed a change in the way journalists work in Ukraine. “Right now, journalism in Ukraine is in a very difficult position because journalists can't do their work according to the journalistic standards. It's connected with national interests, with national secrets and they can't spread and share information which can do bad things for militarist, Ukrainian militarist or for Ukrainian people.” Another interesting thing that mentioned was the “rally around the flag” mentality that exists all around Ukraine. Journalists feel part of the entire country according to Tsymbalenko. Objectivity, which is considered one of the most important aspects in journalism, has a different role during the war. Everyone does what they can do in the dire situation that they’re in right now.
Tsymbalenko believes there are ways the Western world can improve their efforts. “I try to explain that we need to stop helping Russian scientists continue their work abroad. Because if they continue, it looks like nothing happened. All sanctions of the EU don't work if we stop to press and to increase these sanctions in any way. In scientific way, in educational way, in media sphere. All people in the world should know that war in Ukraine is only genocide of Ukrainian people.”
Olha Sharan
Olha sits up straight at the other side of the table and starts talking passionately about the war and the geopolitical situation surrounding this conflict. The story she wants to tell the world is about the truth. She explains that every outlet and representative authority has their own view but hearing stories from ordinary people is also important. Another big misconception according to Olha is the starting date of the war. “The war didn't start on the 24th of February 2022. Russia began the war in 2014. It started with the occupation of Crimea and some parts of Donbas, which are two regions in Ukraine called Donetsk and Luhansk.”
Olha, who has a PhD in political science, is very critical about the sanctions imposed by western countries on Russia in 2014 and in the last year. According to her, when you impose sanctions against a few people from Russia it will never stop the war-machine when sanctions are too weak. Even now Russia still makes money “they are making billions daily because they are selling oil and gas. The world was OK with it.”
When we look back at the summer of 2021, Russia decided to move forces to their border with Ukraine and the Belarussian-Ukrainian border. At that point Ukrainians knew that something was going to happen. It was also the moment Ukraine started to prepare for the invasion because on the first day of the large-scale war the authorities were able to save some military airports because there were no planes. She remembers the 24th of February vividly: “It would be ridiculous to tell a country of 40 million people that you're going to be dead because of an attack or something like that. They didn't want to spread panic. But everybody was quite nervous and getting ready for something to happen. So, yes, we remember the day.”
“they are making billions daily because they are selling oil and gas. The world was OK with it.”
As a political scientist it is hard for Olha to understand that theories of international law are null and void in this conflict. “You don't understand how it's still possible so easily to cross the borders to start attacking to begin a war.” She stresses that a historical perspective can shed light on the war. “You know, Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. The Russian leadership, they never wanted to give up this idea that one day Ukraine will be part of Russia again. There are a lot of natural resources and we have people who are smart. So they've been preparing this.”
Something else to put into international perspective is, following Olha’s words, comparing this genocide with past genocides committed by Russia on Ukrainian people. “Stalin committed crimes in 1932. Ukraine had a lot of grain. That year, they've been purposely taking away food from the farmers. There were a lot of cases of cannibalism. Because of those things they've done, we've lost at least 10 million people.” Today’s method is kidnapping children. “They are taking away kids. And in the worst cases, those kids are not in orphanages, but they are being adopted by Russians. In Ukraine you have alive parents, and somebody adopts you in Russia. Luckily there are some cases, that those parents were lucky to find their kids in Moscow. But only a few cases have happy endings.”
Olha’s hometown is Lviv, a city just 70 kilometres from Poland with a population of over 700.000 people. It annoys her that people expect that she doesn’t know anything about the war because she doesn’t live close to the border. The night before the interview Lviv was attacked with 22 drones that were shot down by the army. “I've seen missiles flying over my head as well. Sometimes, we are lucky, there are no casualties, but usually, there are some victims, innocent people.”
A different side that has been a bit left out in war coverage is the effect is has on flora and fauna. “We had some unique flora and fauna but it's destroyed, and also in one of our southern regions, we had a pink lake, there is no lake anymore, and a lot of animals were just starved to death, or just killed for fun.” The animals rely on humans because they can’t save themselves and a lot of people don’t have the right transportation to save those animals.
“I decided, to watch the news only when I need to, to check what's going on because of my mental health.”
Olha sighs when she takes us back to how she spent the first weeks of the war. “I was watching television all day long, probably for two weeks, and after that I couldn't anymore. I decided, to watch the news only when I need to, to check what's going on because of my mental health.” The most scary thing for her is the sound of the air raid alert. “It depends on the region how much you’ll hear it. Our authorities created an application when I hear the air raid. There is a red notification if there is an explosion, there is a yellow one, and the green one when you are free to go back from the shelter to your home.” When travelling abroad she deliberately turns the app off, because she doesn’t want people to be scared.
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Russian troops use a variety of war methods to scare the Ukrainian civilians. One of them is sabotaging the electricity which causes Ukrainians to have blackouts. “The longest time I didn't have electricity was 16 hours in a row. When there was no light in the evening, we went to sleep early, in cold beds, but still alive. My students they had to write tests and then I had to check it with a torch on my head, like a miner because we had to, this is how we spent our Orthodox Christmas.”
“One third of Ukraine is covered with mines but some people still want to go back home. Russia left those presents for civilians who returned. You open your fridge, boom, explosion. You open your front door, explosion. You open your car, there is an explosion. Our rescuers had a lot of work to do, and still they have, there are so many problems, they caused so many problems, and I don't know how much time it will take to rebuild everything.”
“But the one thing we need right now is peace and unfortunately, we can't use negotiations, there is nothing, we tried, We are negotiating here with you, and they are still shooting, killing people, it's not working like this, so, but thanks to our partners, thanks to all kind people all around the world, we survived, right, and we still have a chance to have a normal life.” concludes Olha.