In this difficult, dramatic time, when the independence of my country, Ukraine, is in danger, I am aided in my work informing the world about this situation by the great Scottish writer Archibald Joseph Cronin, who combined the talents of doctor and writer.
I am helped by all five volumes of his collected works, published in 1994 by the Sytin Foundation publishing house. It doesn’t matter what novels are contained in those books. I don’t read them. I use them to raise my laptop off the kitchen table. For Zoom and Skype interviews, TV producers demand that my head is in the right position vis-à-vis the camera of my laptop.
The Good People of Western Ukraine
These volumes are not mine and neither is the kitchen table. My wife and I are now in Transcarpathia. A retired lady, named Larisa, whom I had never met before, gave us the keys to her apartment and moved in with her daughter. She is Russian-speaking, which is not uncommon in Western Ukraine, and all the books on her shelves – and there are many – are in Russian. There are classics of both Russian and world literature, and Ukrainian classics translated into Russian. She left us a refrigerator full of food and told us to make ourselves at home and to eat anything we could find.
Western Ukraine is doing a tremendous job in very difficult circumstances, but tension is in the air. At the market today I wanted to buy honey and saw some displayed at a stall, but there was no seller to be seen. I asked a man standing nearby about the seller. Without turning around, he answered quite sharply, “How do I know?” But then he looked at me and apologized with his eyes. I did not wait for the seller to return and bought strawberry jam instead. I don’t usually eat too many sweet things. I don’t take sugar in coffee or tea and tell everyone that my life is sweet enough as it is. But now I want jam or honey.
War breeds death, but it also awakens humanity in people. They suddenly want to help others, to bring some comfort to those in trouble. There are millions of people in trouble right now. And without exaggeration, we can say that there are millions of people helping them. Cars parked on the street have signs on them: “If you need to transport humanitarian aid or refugees, call this number ….!” The refugee support centers, which are mainly located in schools and administrative buildings, are full of people, both those who need help and those who want to help.
Police officers with machine guns patrol the streets during the day and stop and search cars that are out at night.
A Great News Story
I am constantly phoned and messaged by journalists from various countries. I have already learned to place these inquirers into two categories: those who really want to understand what is happening – who are ready to understand the feelings and pain of Ukrainians – and those who want to earn a reputation or money with a hot topic report. YouTubers have appeared trying to impersonate journalists of well-known publications and asking for video interviews. Understandably, given how busy everyone is now, no public figures can afford to waste time explaining the complexity of the situation to a YouTuber with 15 followers. If I get a request from an unfamiliar journalist, I check who they are in Google. I have saved myself a lot of time and effort that way.
An Interview With a Cup of Coffee
The war is almost 2 weeks old. Ukraine is holding on. Many dedicated journalists, both Ukrainian and foreign are working in Ukraine. Today, two of them were making their way to the combat zone near Kyiv-Irpin. I hope they were allowed to do their job and returned safely to Kyiv. I wish all Ukrainians and others who are on the side of Ukraine only fortitude and peace of mind.
I ask journalists who call from abroad, holding the phone in their right hand and a cup of coffee in their left, not to ask stupid questions. Questions like “Are you ready to die for Ukraine?” Ukrainians are ready to die for Ukraine. Ukrainians are dying for Ukraine every day. But Ukraine itself will not die! Ukraine will survive, rebuild itself and move on, remembering this war for centuries to come.
