“We don’t want to live with Russia and its fake republic”: a Ukrainian in hiding speaks of war and fear

Amidst the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, a literature professor currently in hiding in Ukraine shares her experience, anger, and hope with The Hindu

It had been ten days since Russia declared war on Ukraine. More than a million Ukrainians had crossed borders and become refugees in Poland and Hungary among other countries. It is in this context that Olha Poliukovych, a professor of literature at the National University of Kiev-Mohyla Academy, spoke to The Hindu about the pains of the war, resentment among the Ukrainians against the Russians. She was hesitant to share her location because she feared for her life and that of the many others with her.

Recounting the night when the invasion began, Ms. Poliukovych said the Ukrainian population was disoriented and there was panic as they had to leave the cities, listening to the explosions behind them as they moved to the borders.

“I’m right now in more or less a safe place. I had to flee my town, which is near Kiev. But I am staying in Ukraine. I’m not going to leave Ukraine. I will stay here and help as much as I can,” she said.

Calling the Russian forces invaders, she condemned their attack on the Babyn yar Holocaust memorial. “This is the place where Nazi killed the Jews during World War Two; they assaulted the memory of innocent victims there.”

Talking about the mass migration and the current situation that prevails within Ukraine, she said, “It’s not a conflict. It’s not a crisis. It’s a real war. Women and children, they are trying to escape. They are trying to cross the border. And those who could not do that are now living in the basements and in the bomb shelters. Women are giving birth in the bomb shelters, Ukrainian newborns are starting their lives in the shelters.”

Talking about the 2014 Revolution of Dignity, she said that Ukrainians went to the peaceful protest when the then President Viktor Yanukovych refused to sign the EU Association Agreement. Mr. Yanukovych, who was pro-Russia and now lives in exile in Russia, had ordered state forces to kill civilian protesters in the capital of Ukraine, she said. But the Ukrainian people had made their choice clear that they don’t want to be a part of Russia. “We don’t want to live with Russia and its fake republic,” she said.

About President Zelenskyy submitting an application to the European Union recently to accept Ukraine as a member, Ms. Poliukovych said that the price of it had become too high as thousands of people had died and more continued to as the war raged on.