ALL wars exact a terrible toll. A few days ago, the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv, whose citizens have paid an unrelenting price since the start of the Russian invasion, once again found themselves at the epicentre of this conflict.
Only hours after I had driven out of the city, it was hit 16 times by Russian missiles killing two people and wounding another 24.
With the much talked about Ukrainian southern counterattack now fully underway and fighting raging around the Mykolaiv-Kherson region, the aim says Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy is to chase Russia’s forces “to the border”.
Whether this happens, or is indeed possible, remains to be seen, but if one thing is certain it’s that Ukrainians remain totally committed to their cause of resisting the Russian invaders and regaining control of their land.
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And it’s this question of commitment and its wider implications that vexes me now as I sit down today to write this diary. What I mean by this is that to my eyes here in Ukraine the country’s commitment to its cause of pushing the Russians back is not in question. What troubles me though is whether the same can be said of those of us in Scotland and elsewhere in the UK who went to extraordinary lengths to show our solidarity with Ukrainians at the start of the war.
Though I’m writing this from Ukraine, it doesn’t stop me keeping one eye firmly on the political and economic disaster that escalates daily back home in broken Britain.
It’s only understandable that many of us might take the view that we have enough to worry about and contend with in the shape of multiple economic shocks than to preoccupy ourselves with the Ukrainian people’s fight for freedom in a far-off land.
But it might come as a surprise to some reading this to find out that an awareness of this is not lost on ordinary Ukrainians. Despite the daily chat here naturally almost always focusing on the war, many people I’ve talked with often ask of the troubles Britain is facing in its own backyard. That fact that I’m a Scot and pro-independence only adds to their curiosity.
Make no mistake about it, Ukrainians fully get the argument that it’s difficult for some folk in the UK to care about Ukraine when they have pressing woes of their own. Many I’ve encountered understand Britain is going clean off the rails and that it’s largely because of the Tory government’s incompetence and predations.
More than once during Boris Johnson’s recent visit to Kyiv, I heard Ukrainians express in the same breath their profound thanks for the military support and materiel Britain supplies along with scepticism or downright dislike of Johnson’s type of political leadership and style of government.
In many respects, it should come as no surprise that the British prime minister should set the collective political spider senses of many Ukrainians tingling. This after all is a country that historically has had its own fair share of political shysters, corrupt opportunists and dodgy administrations.
This too before also factoring in those ultimate bullies next door that Ukrainians recognise in the shape of Russian president Vladmir Putin and his Belarusian counterpart and ally Alexander Lukashenko.
What I’m trying to say here is that ordinary Ukrainians value our support on a near unimaginable level unless one has visited this country and had that gratitude expressed endlessly to one’s face.
They value it and want it to continue and know it must continue if they are to be successful in beating back the authoritarian monster that seeks to take over their land.
But in wishing this they know too that their fellow global citizens in Scotland and the wider UK and Europe are finding it increasingly difficult to help as they struggle with the cost of living crisis.
It galls me to hear the Tory government blame the energy crisis on the war in Ukraine. That it’s having a profound impact is undeniable, but long before Russia invaded Ukraine Tory energy policy was a shambles and the economic emergency we are currently facing is a result of 12 years of disastrous Tory management.
IT will gall me even more too if over the coming winter when energy bills rise even higher to hear some people in the UK express the mistaken belief that this is somehow all Ukraine’s fault and use it as an argument to undermine our continuing support.
It’s vital in the months ahead that our own solidarity and support along with that from the wider international community doesn’t falter during what it going to be a brutal winter on so many levels. It’s imperative too for us to work even more closely with our European neighbours to minimise the impact Russia’s energy leverage might have As things get harder with rampant inflation and surging food and energy prices, let’s not go laying blame at the doorstep of those Ukrainians who never asked for this war and in many cases are facing an unimaginably grim winter of their own.
Tough as daily life will be for the rest of this year and beyond, we must make sure that our own politicians and those in Europe don’t go soft on their positioning over Russia and start easing the pressure on Putin because of our need for oil and gas.
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Yes, I know many will argue that’s easy to say and is an almost impossible sell to those struggling to get by. But the war being fought in Ukraine is about so much more than energy prices, pressing as they are.
This is a war that determines all our future freedoms. A conflict that is shaping the future not just of the European continent but the world as a whole and will do so for many years to come. How it ends matters not only for Ukrainians but for all of us who value democracy and freedom.
After having been in Ukraine again now for almost a month, the time is fast approaching for me to leave the country and return to Scotland. No doubt I will be back here again in the not-too-distant future as this war is far from over.
As I make my preparations to leave, I bring home from my Ukrainian colleagues and friends a clear and simple message. It’s one of thanks, but above all it is stick with us, don’t forget us and the cause we are all fighting for.
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