As a Ukrainian person looking at everything that’s been happening in the world lately, here’s what I really, REALLY need people living in liberal democracies to understand as soon as possible.
This isn’t a pleasant conversation.
A thread.
1/
Exactly 9 years ago today, I was in a pub with my uni pals when we heard the news that then-president Yanukovych would not sign the association agreement with the EU, crushing Ukraine's European hopes and locking us to Russia.
We were not buying it.
Here's what happened next 🧵
You can’t afford to take democracy for granted.
It may feel like your countries’ democratic institutions have been there forever — but that’s just because you were born after generations of your compatriots had given their lives to defend and develop these institutions.
2/
So I spent some time thinking about why this tweet made me so sick and full of rage — on a scale that no Russian propaganda piece ever managed to enrage me.
Let me explain in this thread.
The fact that Russia can still buy practically all military tech components from European companies to keep bombing Ukraine into rubble is a clear signal for me: most Europeans still don’t understand the threat we’re all up against.
7/
You’ve lived your life in the comfort of your ancestors’ victories, but you may be the last generation that can feel this comfort while growing up.
Things are changing, and democracies around the world are struggling to defend against internal and external threats.
3/
The language context of Ukraine can be a tricky topic for any outsider. In this long and personal thread, I’ll illustrate the relationship between 🇺🇦 and 🇷🇺 languages in Ukraine using my family’s history. I’m a bilingual Ukrainian raised in a Russian-speaking family in Kyiv.
Now, there are actors in this world whose main aim is to crush your countries’ democracies. These actors are your direct enemies — it’s as simple as that.
I know that you don’t want to have enemies or fight wars. Ukraine also didn’t choose to have this war — Russia did.
4/
This night Ukrainians got a clear view of what we truly mean for the US.
We’re not allies, never have been.
We’re an inconvenience. An aberration in their view of geopolitics. A problem that just won’t solve itself.
We’ll keep resisting no matter what, but this really hurt.
If you want the next generation to live in the comfort of your democratic institutions, it’s time to take security matters seriously and act now.
There is no time left — many forces are already at war with you even if you choose not to see things this way.
End.
14/14
Russia and Iran are our most obvious enemies. Their allies and proxies must also be viewed as your enemies.
These countries/corporations/actors are not driven by your logic of cooperation and stability — they seek instability and want to hurt you as much as possible.
5/
If 9 years ago someone in the pub told us what would happen next, I would have done it all over again – with more dedication and certainty.
And I definitely would have done it alongside the same brave, bright, unbelievable people.
End of thread.
✊💙💛
You can’t be doing any business with actors whose goal is to hurt you.
You can’t be helping Ukraine with one hand and enabling Russia with your other hand.
This is not just unreasonable — this puts your democracies at an even greater risk.
8/
The sooner you realize you need to see these powers as your direct enemies and act accordingly, the more chances you’ll have of preserving your democratic institutions and welfare states.
If you ignore this threat, the war will still come, and it will catch you by surprise.
6/
Ukraine is the biggest test for the modern global security system: if a fascist totalitarian state on nukes can invade, exterminate, and crush a smaller democratic neighbor with the world just watching it on mute, then we’re all in for more war and global instability.
I noticed that a lot of people from Western democracies with imperial past don’t get that ethnic Russians living in Ukraine (especially Crimea), the Baltics, Caucasus are not indigenous ethnic minorities.
They are mostly Russia’s colonial settlers.
1/10
As someone who witnessed two nationwide pro-democracy revolutions in my homeland and two waves of Russian aggression in just 28 years of my life, I can assure you: your democracy won’t last if you’re not ready to take security seriously.
11/
If you feel lonely and want to summon some russian bots in your replies, there’s a magic word that lures them in. Azov.
Try ‘Azov is the last thing defending Ukrainians in Mariupol.”
Russian businesses/representatives can’t be viewed independently from the Russian state.
Yandex can’t be a growing browser in Europe. The Russian House can’t keep standing unbothered in the center of Berlin.
You can’t afford to keep your eyes closed security-wise.
9/
If Ukraine is allowed to get crushed by Russia’s war of attrition, you will be the next to know what it feels like when someone directly attacks your democratic welfare systems and seeks to take away your freedoms.
Trust me, you won’t like the taste of it.
13/
To my foreign followers:
There is hope for Ukraine’s counteroffensive, and I love seeing folks wishing Ukraine success.
But please, tune in your humanity.
Keep in mind that Ukrainians will sacrifice their lives during the counteroffensive.
This is not a TV show. This is war.
First of all, let’s make it clear: the Americans should care about how the war in Ukraine is going because if Russia wins, it would mean more regional conflicts across the world (because apparently war can be rewarded!), more nuclear armament (blackmail works!), more genocide.
All you need to do for now is to make your institutions cut ties with everything Russian, clear them from spies and harmful actors, and invest in your security — especially by helping Ukraine’s security as the only country currently defending common European democracy.
12/
then survive genocide, these fake peace promoters smirk, roll their eyes, and brag about online to increase the monetization of their content.
This is a disgusting, toxic, and hypocritical behavior that I personally will never forgive or forget.
End of thread.
Exactly 9 years ago, I rushed to my dad with the news I just saw: passenger flight
#MH17
got hit in the Russia-occupied part of eastern Ukraine.
Dad went silent and then said, “At least now the world will stop Putin.”
It didn’t. But let me walk you through some context.
1/15
If you run things the usual way, the democracy that many of your compatriots take for granted will fade in your country as well — because of the powers working hard at it and not getting nearly enough pushback from your governments and corporate representatives.
10/
Here’s a perspective for you.
I’m 28 years old.
All my adult life Russia has waged a war against my home.
All my adult life there’s war, occupation, injustice, and inability of the world to make Russia stop.
When I say Russia must be defeated, I fucking mean it.
Quick reminder that Crimea is Ukraine and the Crimean bridge is located within the internationally recognized borders of Ukraine.
Anyone who calls it an attack on Russia’s land and an “escalation by Ukraine” either has no idea what they’re talking about or is a Kremlin shill.
Why is Russia trying to murder Ukraine’s towns?
Seeing the fate of Bakhmut, Avdiivka, Maryinka and other towns makes you wonder: why would anyone kill a city? Isn’t occupation enough for Moscow?
The answer also holds the key to understanding Russia's logic of this war.
🧵1/
And that’s what made me furious.
People who are openly fascist genocide deniers are clearly our enemy.
But people like her claim to be empathetic, humane fighters for social justice. They claim to care.
And yet when there are real people dying and the US is genuinely helping…
In today's
#vatniksoup
, I'll introduce a South African-American(!) businessman and social media figure, Elon Musk (
@elonmusk
). He's best-known for being the wealthiest man in the world, running Tesla Inc., SpaceX & Twitter, and for parroting Kremlin's propaganda narratives.
1/24
All that armament and multiplying conflicts on top of climate crisis with the issues of food, mass migration, and extreme weather events.
My point is: Ukraine’s victory (and Russia’s loss) are hugely important for preserving and improving the (yes, imperfect) world.
that openly showing disrespect and apathy to people experiencing genocide is an unprofessional, offensive act.
Even if deep down she doesn’t care about Ukrainians, she shouldn’t have bragged about that that on camera.
But not only she did just that, she cut THIS bit from the…
What’s happening at the Polish, Slovakian, and Hungarian borders with Ukraine is a disgrace.
Russia may have underestimated Ukraine’s resilience and the will to fight back, but it sure was correct about Europe’s worst fascist forces sabotaging Ukraine’s defense capabilities.
A lesser known page of the Russo-Ukrainian war is the story of how a bunch of Ukrainian digital pros launched a *massive* info campaign in Feb/March 2022 to penetrate Russian propaganda and reach ordinary Russians.
It’s time you should know this story (and learn from it).
1/19
Now to the video.
The elephant in the room:
@briebriejoy
rolled her eyes when
@Cirincione
talked about the mass forced deportation & adoption of Ukrainian kids by Russians.
This is a hugely important body language mistake. As a host and speaker, she should have know…
In 2022, we have entered the final stage of the events triggered by Maidan.
This war will decide who wins in the end – the people who have chosen a democratic European future for their country or a bunch of post-Soviet police states led by dictators with imperial issues.
Thousands grew into tens of thousands as Yanukovych ignored our demands.
Here's a photo from a 50,000-strong protest in late November. Still peaceful, still hopeful.
The thumbs-up kid on the left is me.
interview and turned it into a highlight, a content engagement thing that she pinned to her Twitter account.
She made a nasty mistake and then shamelessly went bragging about it, calling the offended crowd a “harassment attack” and refusing to acknowledge she did anything wrong.
As with any revolution, Maidan was not perfect, and it did not bring a perfect government to power. That's not how revolutions work.
However, those three months in 2013-2014 changed my life and the life of Ukraine forever. My generation finally arrived and demanded change.
I’m still in disbelief that we’re seeing a territory the size of a small European country — settlements and ecosystems included — disappear in front of our eyes, and the world argues whether there’s a chance Russia didn’t do it instead of coming out with a plan to make Russia pay
I can’t believe I have to write this down, but here we go:
People colonized by Russia using the English language is not colonialism.
Speaking Russian, on the other hand, is colonialism.
For us, English presents the best way to break away from the system of Russian dominance.
In 2013, we were second-year social & political science students – we were young and angry, and we definitely were not ready to spend our adult lives in a post-Soviet dictatorship.
So the next day, we went to Maidan Square in Kyiv with thousands of others fed up with Yanukovych.
I don’t know what to say.
I’m tired and fed up with the world allowing Russia to murder us for two years now.
I’m sick of these imagines getting normalized.
Values crumble and meanings blur when your compatriots are murdered in cold blood everyday.
My people finally took power into their hands and went through blood and terror to break away from authoritarianism and Russia's imperial influence.
It truly was a Revolution of Dignity, a people's movement – and everyone who saw Maidan in person understands it crystal clear.
The most depressing thing about being Ukrainian online in 2023 is that now we’re not just waking up to news of fresh Russian attacks — we’re also waking up to disgusting articles and comments with new angles convincing everybody to abandon Ukraine and let us die already.
As years went by, I realized, to my surprise, that some foreigners believed Maidan was a Western coup designed to hurt Russia.
I saw a lot of people on the outside doubting the real reasons behind Maidan and mixing up the chronology of the events. It was a mess.
On February 20, more than 80 protestors were shot dead by the special forces in another, most brutal series of early morning clashes.
Following a series of shock, chaos, and negotiations, Yanukovych just took his belongings and ran away to Russia.
We won.
Lots of things happened next.
The annexation of Crimea, the start of the war in Donbas, the new elections, and, finally, a complete return to a European path for Ukraine.
As you are well aware, post-Maidan events were only the beginning of Russia's war against Ukraine.
Thanks for sticking with me during this (very) long and intimate thread.
I’ll end by calling to support Ukraine in its fight for existence. Learn more about the political and cultural context of this war with our Ukraine Explainers project:
End of 🧵
Probably the worst takes on the drone attack on Moscow are the ones saying we shouldn’t do that because that will get more Russians behind Putin.
Guys, Russia has shifted into wartime economy and genocides Ukraine for more than a year. There’s no mass anti-war movement.
Wake up.
Maidan became permanently occupied by the protestors (us) after the brutal beating of the students.
It was getting clear at that point that Yanukovych was trying to crush the protests and usurp the power to become a true dictator.
Now, hundreds of thousands went to the streets.
I was watching a live stream from Maidan at 1AM in mid-December when Berkut (the special police) went on the offensive, trying to rip the Maidan crowd and take back the square.
I woke my dad up, and we decided to go. Thousands more flooded Maidan at 2AM to defend the protest.
My 15yo brother in Kyiv just texted me he’s afraid someone from our family will get mobilized.
He said: “I know it’s still better than all of us getting murdered by the Russians, but I’m still scared.”
Give Ukraine all the weapons it needs to kick Russia the fuck out.
Now.
“No Ukraine, you can’t have long-range artillery or modern aviation. It’s called E-S-C-A-L-A-T-I-O-N. Tanks? Okay, but not all of them and not on time for the coming offensive.”
*Several months later*
“Why Ukraine has not been more effective remains uncertain.”
Here's Serhiy reciting Taras Shevchenko in Maidan only a couple of weeks before getting murdered by the regime.
He was 20 years old, only a year older than me.
Clashes with the police, Molotov cocktails, fortification building – it all become the new norm from later February.
Everybody was at Maidan – friends, family, people from all around Ukraine. My grandma regularly made a massive tank of borscht and carried it to feed the folk.
🇬🇪 World, are you still watching? Tonight might have just been the biggest gathering of Georgians marching in Tbilisi against the russian violations and law infiltrating the Georgian government! Please watch, share, stand with the brave people of Georgia!🇬🇪
#NoToRussianlaw
Yanukovych's police never managed to crush Maidan. In January 2014, after approving a set of draconian laws, the regime started to unleash lethal violence on the even more outraged crowd.
I remember crying hard when Serhiy Nigoyan was shot dead in the middle of the rally.
I have to admit, the level of despair that Ukrainians felt after the Kakhovka dam attack was comparable only with late-February 2022.
The world suddenly went silent and suspicious. We were on our own.
Mariam here explains what we all felt and why:
So this woman in Germany approaches two Ukrainians and starts yelling, "Glory to Russia!", "Russia will win" and "Whose is Kherson? Fuck Ukraine!".
This is beyond ugly, but it is also a systematic behavior displayed by many Russians against Ukrainians abroad.
#visaban
Отакі пости викладає власниця каналу за посиланням. Прошу також звернути увагу на скріни у треді нижче.
Ви знаєте що робити, у жіночки немає навіть внж, тільки віза. Плюс, прохання пошерити, тому що на цьому відео подруга мого лд❗️
The next four months were so densely packed with protests, emotions, and news that it's impossible to put them all into one thread.
I'll just mention some of the most notable moments.
Switzerland has blocked the supply of Aspide air defense systems to Ukraine
The Swiss had NO problem selling air defence systems to Qatar to protect stadiums during the soccer World Cup
Even if 🇮🇪 wanted to send Mowag Ambulances it would be blocked
Last week a small Russian media outlet posted a guide on how to get rid of imperialistic thinking.
It mentioned basic stuff like "avoid addressing all people in Russian" and "respect indigenous people’s culture"
Let me walk you into the heart of darkness aka the replies.
1/9
Russia launched 30 cruise missiles at Ukraine today at exactly the same time when Lavrov was accusing Ukraine of refusing to negotiate at the
#G20Indonesia
.
That's all you need to know about negotiations with Russia.
#RussiaIsATerroristState
Unpopular take:
Years and years of anti-war rhetorics in the West have created a false belief that any intervention is morally wrong.
That’s just not true. In case of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, standing aside and not helping Ukraine is the immoral act that enables a genocide.
I don’t know guys.
America going out of its way to not allow Ukraine to use Britain’s Storm shadow to hit Russia.
Germany halting all future military aid to Ukraine.
It sure does look like Ukraine’s key partners really, really don’t us to have a chance to win.
On February 19, we stayed late at Maidan until 2AM helping prepare the Molotov cocktails and building fortifications from car tires.
Here's a (very) blurry photo of me and my friend Daniel from that night.
6 hours after we left to get some sleep, the shootings started.
If you’re wondering why Ukrainians prefer to suffer through war instead of accepting the Russian rule for the sake of peace, then you are yet to open a proper history book and learn what Moscow was doing to Ukrainians throughout the last century.
If only Russians were as stubborn at protesting against their government as they are at protesting against Ukrainian athletes refusing to shake hands, Russia would be a different country.
But they aren’t.
And that’s all you need to know about the state of Russian society.
Say what you will about Clinton, but he’s the only top western politician who openly admitted his share of responsibility for disarming Ukraine and not doing enough to deter Russian aggression.
Obama and Merkel are still too consumed with pride to admit any wrongdoings.
Guilt on Bill Clinton's face. Ukraine relied on the United States, to help them if Russia broke its agreement. Ukraine gave up nukes, its only real security, in exchange for a promise. It risked its life for reduced proliferation. For us, for the world. How dare we run now.
Ukrainians keep saying that the West’s failure to fight off Russian aggression will lead to more destabilization and aggression from dictatorships globally.
Nobody listens.
Iran’s attack is another motion in the domino effect launched by Russia.
Start fucking listening.
I knew that Russia was counting on war fatigue & internal conflicts in western democracies, but I could've never imagined that Ukraine would become a demonized scapegoat of culture wars and partisan infighting 2 years into the biggest modern war in Europe.
Shameful.
I really don’t get why this photoshoot feels empowering for us 40 million Ukrainians but somehow so many people in the West find it not okay.
Enlighten me, I really fail to understand this logic.
Here’s a simple truth that many foreign political commentators can’t seem to understand about Ukrainians: Russian occupation is much worse than war for us.
This 98 y.o. woman walked 10 km with a cane and a stick to reach the Ukrainian-controlled territory from her Russian-occupied Ocheretyne. Because she wanted to be free.
Her name is Lidia. She's Ukrainian.
Russia is able to launch the largest combined air attacks in the world using US-made tech all while Ukraine’s aid is delayed and prohibited from being used against military targets inside Russia.
If that isn’t hypocrisy, then I don’t know what is.
I can’t stop thinking that a dozens-worth drone attack is an everyday reality for Ukraine — but nobody will give us enough weapons for safety, let alone help us intercept Russian drones/rockets together as allies.
Not saying it to blame anyone, it just feels so fucking lonely.
And just like that — with simple twist of bothsideism and empty humanism — Russian liberals will happily whitewash their country’s innumerable crimes in Ukraine.
Mariupol, Bucha, Bakhmut, countless other vanished towns, filtration camps, deported children — all never happened.
Thank fucking god.
I used to look up to Chomsky 10 years ago while studying social sciences.
It took me time, education and a whole fucking invasion of my country to realize he’s a self-obsessed hypocrite who has zero empathy for billions of victims of non-Western violence.
Hearing Noam Chomsky's health has deteriorated to the point it now prevents him from writing, commenting or participating in the public domain. As an educator he has been without equal. An intellectual giant in an age of confusion, misinformation & soundbites. Thank you, Noam. ❤️
Words matter. Framing matters.
“Zelensky to ask for more cash to support war with Russia” is such a disrespectful and manipulative take.
People with additions or in trouble “ask for cash”.
Countries that need military means to defend against the invasion don’t “ask for cash”
I remember talking to my father just when the MH17 news broke. He said, “That’s it. They will not let him get away with this.”
They did, and it enabled the biggest war in Europe since 1945.
Russia must be defeated for the sake of peace — no other way around it.
I'm still astounded that MH17 didn't really have any impact on public or political attitudes to Russia. Three hundred people killed in cold blood by Russian military actors and nothing happened. A big collective shrug.
People who claim that Ukraine’s eastern and southern regions were never really Ukrainian for some reason never mention that 90% of Russia has never been Russian by the same logic.
@PokemonBurner1
She has a sizable audience and she used to work for Sanders (albeit he’s been a real ally of Ukrainians so far). We need to make sure people in her position own the words that come out of their mouths, and are challenged if they fail to do so.
2) Ukraine is a mixture of languages and dialects, but it has all the right to decolonize its Ukrainian identity and separate itself from Russia. Screams of Russian speakers’ discrimination have always been complete bullshit. I can say that as a lifelong native Russian speaker.
Zaporizhzhia occupation governor says no Ukrainian POWs will ever be returned back to Ukraine. They will be engaged in penal labor and sent to war to fight against their countrymen as punishment for resisting "Mother Russia" – to "redeem [their sins] with blood."
This is hugely important.
People should understand that every company continuing to pay taxes in Russia is essentially financing Russia’s genocidal war in Ukraine.
Treat these companies as willing partners in Russia’s war crimes.
⚡️Breaking: We installed a giant billboard outside
@Unilever
’s HQ in London to send their new CEO a message on his 1st day in office: Pull out of Russia. Paying taxes in Russia has consequences on people’s lives. Lives of people like these brave men injured defending Ukraine.
There are no comfortable “shortcuts” to ending this war.
The only path to real peace is through Ukraine’s victory and Russia’s defeat.
Arm Ukraine now. Double down on sanctions.
Everything else — like talking to ordinary Russians — is a dangerous distraction.
20/20
I recently realized I want two things for my country more than anything else:
1. Victory & justice in our resistance against Russia
2. Witnessing Ukraine become a member of the European Union
Not many people understand why the second point is so important.
Let me explain 🧵
1/
Ukrainians are deeply reforming their country and preparing for accession,
even as they are fighting an existential war.
Today the Commission recommends that the Council opens accession negotiations with Ukraine.
This is something mostly just Ukrainians seem to realize.
Too many people in the West are too deep into “Russia has already lost, democracy has already fought back” fairytale.
While you’re patting yourselves on the back, Russia is still planning to conquer all of Ukraine.
An unpopular opinion, if Ukraine is not provided with means to expel russians from our territory, Ukraine will have to do something different, open borders, evacuate as much people as possible, dismiss the AFU and have govt in exhile as already happened to us 100 years ago.
1/3
People who are now saying “imagine if Russia committed such horrible crimes in Ukraine…” instantly expose themselves as ignorant, clueless idiots.
They’ve never cared enough to even follow the basic events in Ukraine just to be aware of Russia’s openly genocidal actions.
Russians in Crimea and the Baltics often moved into the houses of recently deported indigenous owners.
Russians across ex-colonies have enjoyed all the privileges of a colonizer nation for centuries — they aren’t an oppressed population in any common sense of this term.
2/10
I still can't comprehend the level of cynicism required to
(1) consciously deny Ukraine the weapons that could have changed the battlefield status quo
(2) conclude afterward that nothing can be done about the battlefield stalemate.
The anatomy of shilling for Russia or how to spot the wordings of a Russian asset/useful idiot.
Let’s unpack Simon Jenkins’
@guardian
outcry about NATO escalation to see how specific wordings expose a Russian propaganda asset.
These wordings go beyond just Simon.
A thread.
1/9
On a more serious note, Ukrainians didn’t just decide not to work with the Russian opposition out of spite.
We see their work, we know their impact — and we can clearly see it brings close to zero impact on Ukraine’s victory, our only cause.
Let me break it down for you.
1/6
I guess that's the story I wanted to tell. Two last thoughts here: 1) There are millions of families like mine who have gone through famines, wars, and forced Russification. The fact that they’re Russian-speaking has nothing to do with their ethnicity or political affiliation.
Багаторазовий чемпіон України та світу з кікбоксингу Сергій Лисюк помер в реанімації.
Сергій підірвався на міні, виконуючи бойове завдання на Донецькому напрямку.
Після початку повномасштабного вторгнення він служив у територіальній обороні та брав участь у боях на Донеччині.
This week a Ukrainian person in Portugal had their car labeled with a hateful sticker.
The sticker says “Khokhol bastads” (“khokhol” is an ethnic slur for Ukrainians) in Russian and depicts a kozak.
So much effort put into hatred and harassment. So Russian culture.
I don’t think international media being contrarian about the Kakhovka dam is objective journalism.
We have 15 months of evidence forming a pattern of Russian destruction in Ukraine.
The “both sides blame each other” explanation means you are failing at your job as a journalist.