Fighting continues throughout the Donbas Arc, but the enemy has not moved forward. In the morning, the Russian Defense Ministry set off a fake that supposedly they already have full control over Izyum – the key to Donbass. Taking it would threaten to surround the entire Donbas group, as well as enemy tanks right outside my house. Putin wants to take Izyum at any cost. But just as the last night before Yanukovych’s flight, citizens under bullets on the Maidan changed the course of history, now, holding a small ledge on the southern shore of Izyum, the Ukrainian military is changing the course of world history.
When the war began, the world collapsed. The inevitable has happened. It’s as if an asteroid crashed into the Earth, and overnight, the whole familiar world disappeared along with the usual communication, work, problems and little pleasures. There is only a void ahead. After a while – a new shock. It turns out to be not just a void, but destruction, suffering and death. After all, the occupiers are fighting not only the army, but all the inhabitants, killing without distinction children and old people. It’s an irrational Evil you can’t negotiate with. It can be stopped only by force. And now a new understanding is beginning to emerge – Ukraine defends not only itself, but also Europe, and maybe the whole world, which will be annihilated in the Third World War, if this Evil is not stopped here and now.
I decided to stay in Slavyansk because I felt I am more useful here. However, it is becoming increasingly difficult for students to join classes online. Here’s a student from Liman, who says they’re quiet again, although there was a very big explosion just before. I also inform you that in Slavyansk we too are quiet, but yesterday all the time sirens were howling, and the day before yesterday there was a whole day of cannonade and missile explosions. One of them lay very close to my house. So, having exchanged the information, we begin the seminar.
I don’t usually hear missiles coming. Nothing foreshadows their blow, when the explosion suddenly breaks silence and calm, and then the sirens turn on. But that time, I could clearly hear a growing whistle, I had time to estimate the situation and I realized that there was nothing to do. There was just a sense of inevitability, like when you hit a wall at extreme speed. Some man just pushed the button in cold blood to kill you. And somewhere far away, ordinary people to whom you’ve done nothing wrong say Putin did the right thing, sending him to kill you. Some of them even begin to be hypocritical, to say that what is happening is terrible, although it is still everyone’s fault and yours too.
The explosion was close, but the windows were intact. Went outside to look at the huge field of fire. Impressive! If this exploded near the house, no cellar would protect. The expression «Russian roulette» is filled with a new meaning. As long as single missiles are fired, the chance of being hit is relatively small, although people are dying. But the probability of death increases many times, when they begin to intensively shell the cities – Rubezhnoe, Severodonetsk, Izyum and Maryinka, which are being assaulted now. Perhaps the enemy will soon retaliate against us for the failures of the assault, then the danger for my students will also increase manifold.
The risks for my friends from the church «Good news», which under shelling take people out of besieged cities, are already comparable with the game of «Russian roulette» with a real revolver. Of several buses, one is bound to come under fire. All agreements about days of silence can be broken at any time. The occupiers are allowed to use their weapons at will against civilians. They can easily shoot up a bus full of kids knowing perfectly who is inside. This is the result of dehumanization.
Why do people behave so differently? Ukrainians even risk their lives for pets. In Kharkov, the citizens died for the animals, saving them from the zoo under fire from the Russian military. Dehumanization occurs when the inner core of the personality breaks down – his free will. After that, a man can be made into a monster that is willing to kill but unable to take the initiative.
The war has shown that motivation and spirit are more important than military-technical superiority. The Russian military was already broken before the invasion. They made no choice and were victims of circumstances. So the infernal circumstances led to the loss of their humanity. The Ukrainians, on the other hand, are fighting consciously, understanding that they defend their dearest ones, so they defeat the enemy even in the most desperate situation, when it seems impossible. Their participation in the war is an internal choice, by which they retain their humanity in all circumstances, even in hell.
