(essay)

I shared the view that the war between Russia and Ukraine would almost inevitably begin, but I kept hoping for a miracle that it would not happen. In my confidence, I was guided by the conclusions I made from the analysis of the history of the Moscow Empire, the Russian Empire, the USSR and the Russian Federation.

Ancient history has convinced me that in Russia any depth of moral decline of society is possible, in particular, the growth of cruelty and the indifference of citizens so relevant today too. In this country, it is obvious that the manipulation of the people is not a hard task, because they fall for informational fakes fast, being flexible and having the lack of critical thinking at the genetic level (thus forming the consciousness of the nation for many centuries). The history of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries has shown that Russia has almost the same foreign policy strategy and its actions in certain circumstances does not change a lot. Over the past 30 years, Russia has done the same with Georgia, Chechnya and Moldova.

While speaking about my subjective assessment of the actions of the country’s leadership in the first days of the crisis, I would like to say the following.

Of course, I am glad that the leadership of our state was determined to resist the occupation, and not to evacuate abroad, leaving the people alone in trouble.

It is evident that the leadership was not ready for some extreme situations for unknown reasons. After the war, the causes of the defeats will be clarified, but in general the government has shown itself to be capable of the decisive actions – so we were right.

I would like to add a few words about President Volodymyr Zelensky. I did not vote for him in the presidential election, but now I respect his courageous steps. I was impressed by Oleksiy Arestovych’s story. When information arrived about the landing of enemy troops in Pechersk, the entire office of the President and Western partners persistently persuaded Volodymyr Oleksandrovych to evacuate abroad, to which he replied: “I stay with the people. Give me a machine gun – I will fight! ” After these words, who else would dare to call Mr. President a “clown,” a “laughing stock” or to badmouth with other derogative words?

In the end, I will only say that we can only make final conclusions about the government’s actions after the war.

Thank you for attention.

Glory to Ukraine!