About five years ago, Igor and I got involved in a so-called “humanitarian aid” project. Some very nice and well-meaning folks in the U.S. wanted to help a hospital in a Chornobyl-affected community in Ukraine. They got mixed up with some serious scammers, and it all went downhill from there. Giving the wrong way was my reflection on that experience.
I reflect on it again this week, and draw your attention back to that history, to remind us all why it is important to give cold, hard cash in times of crisis. Times like we are facing now in Ukraine. Please donate to Fund Medical Needs of People on Maidan International today. Thank you.
Today I went to the Main Military Hospital with representatives of Fund Medical Needs of People on Maidan International, to deliver money they collected for injured soldiers. Their important and essential work continues now, as hundreds of wounded young men are brought from the front.
Please, please, please contribute to Medical Maidan. I promise you, every single penny goes to people who need it. We give the money only directly to the soldiers, many of whom need expensive surgeries and long-term treatment, $100,000 and more.
My friends in the U.S. and the EU, if you can’t help make this madness stop, please help these brave Ukrainians get the medical care they need.
The terrorists, who for days claimed they did NOT have the MH17 flight data recorders, negotiated yesterday for over 12 hours with the Malaysian delegation, before finally agreeing to turn the boxes over in an obscene and absurd “ceremony”, replete with a “formal” signing of papers, stamps, and a handshake for the cameras.
I’ve been asked to advise on reliable news sources. I can’t vouch for any of them, they have all reported unconfirmed information, few of them really understand the context of Ukraine and Russia. Too many of them report from Russia on Ukraine. But these are the ones I check daily. I’ll add to the list as I come across other good sources.
The only two English-language media sources that have had journalists on the ground in Ukraine throughout the entire time (during both Maidan revolution and Russia’s war on Ukraine) are Kyiv Post and Vice. Look for Vice’s series Russian Roulette: The Invasion of Ukraine, there are up to 60 reports in the series as of yesterday.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Live Blog: Ukraine in Crisis has become my go-to site. I check it throughout the day, every day.
Lidia Wolanskyj: Canadian-Ukrainian journalist living in Ukraine; frequently reports for the CBC. She provides very good reviews and insights about other articles; I read anything she suggests.
Mychailo Wynnyckyj: Canadian-Ukrainian professor of political science at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. His analyses are thoughtful and insightful, and I also read many of the articles he suggests. EuroMaidan Press sometimes re-posts his essays (for those who don’t do The Facebook).
Global Voices is also an excellent resource. They translate the local blogosphere and social media into English, and provide context and commentary to help the rest of the world understand. Their summaries are outstanding.
BBC does a pretty good job, they had journalists in Ukraine throughout much of the revolution, so have good contacts here. They get a bit lazy in their analysis, sometimes, but are MUCH better than U.S. media at least in acknowledging the situation is much more complex than just “east vs west”, Russian language vs. Ukrainian language, etc.
NPR was the first media outlet to send a journalist across Ukraine way back in December, during the early days of the revolution. Respect. Corey Flintoff has done some great reporting in and on Ukraine, but he’s based in Moscow and they don’t seem to let him come to Ukraine much. He is very knowledgeable on Russia, of course, and I always listen closely to his reports. Wish he could be based in Kyiv.
On Twitter, I follow
– @edwardlucas and read much of what he recommends about Ukraine and Russia.
– @StateofUkraine, they link to a lot of non-English language sources, but you can use Google translate to read the source articles
– @ChristopherJM, and read a lot of what he forwards.
– @RFERL Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
– @shustry Simon Shuster, he’s well connected with people on the ground
– Al Jazeera English, sadly you cannot access their site in the U.S. unless you use a VPN to get a non-U.S. IP. They are much better than Al Jazeera America, try to find a work-around, because it’s worth it.
– @mfa_russia Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation (in English), sometimes for the amusement of the absurdity of their tweets, always to keep an eye on the spin they are puking out into the world.
What NOT to read
Any Russian media, it is ALL Kremlin-controlled. RT is a Kremlin mouthpiece, and a disgusting one at that. (The Moscow Times (English language) is independent, as far as I can tell, but probably is able to stay that way by avoiding too much politics.)
I have a serious grudge with The New York Times, for YEARS they have reported on the entire region while sitting in Moscow. You just can’t understand Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia or any other country that is not Russia when you are sitting in Russia all the time. Kyiv is a 90-minute flight from Moscow, and yet it took them MONTHS to get a reporter here to actually report on Maidan from Maidan. Of course, that reporting is still questionable since the Moscow-based reporters don’t have local contacts, understand the history and background, etc. They’ve gotten sneakier in the past couple of months and now start claiming a local byline by giving co-credit for their articles to a local reporter. Now you have to go to the very bottom on the article to see who is actually where. I also don’t understand why they insist on still spelling the capital city’s name as Kiev, instead of the proper Kyiv. It’s been an independent country for 23 years, for pete’s sake.
I have spent a lot of time and energy over the past 6-7 months reassuring my family, my friends, my colleagues and even complete strangers that we are safe and fine in Kyiv. Most of the time it’s been completely true, some of the time it’s been a half-truth, a few times I lied. I didn’t want my family and friends to worry, I was concerned about them. I didn’t want my employer to try to evacuate me.
I’ve lived in Kyiv going on 9 years. I am convinced it is one of the safest big cities in the world. For all but a couple months during the revolution, I have never been afraid walking late at night alone. I often have told people the worst that happens in Kyiv, a city of 4+ million, is pick-pocketing (and the maniac drivers, but you can avoid them by not driving, as public transportation is fantastic).
I won’t lie anymore. I won’t tell you what you want to hear so that you won’t worry about me, because that means you also won’t worry about Ukraine, and you don’t realize you should be worried about yourself.
The most honest thing I have posted this year was on March 1.
Since then I have spent an enormous amount of time and energy convincing you (and I suppose myself, as well) that it was not true. But it is. Putin has been at war with Ukraine since March 1.
No, it’s not the kind of war we are “used to”. It’s not a 20th century war. This is what war in the 21st century is. “De-stabilization”, “Military uniforms without insignia”, “separatists” and “insurgents”. Please tell me why Russian citizens with Russian passports are Ukrainian “separatists”?!
Interview with U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Geoff Pyatt:
Ostrovsky: “The Russian government claims it doesn’t control or support the rebel movement in eastern Ukraine and doesn’t have any ties to it, and this is a civil war scenario that’s happening in Ukraine. What is the information that the American government has. Are these Russian troops in eastern Ukraine? Are these Russian weapons being supplied with the knowledge of the Russian government?”
Pyatt: “These are certainly Russian weapons, and there’s no way that tanks and heavy artillery are moving across the border without the acquiescence and knowledge of Russian authorities. The question of who these fighters are, a lot of them, of course, are Russian citizens… It’s very clear a lot of the leadership of these organizations are Russian citizens, they make no secret of that.”
I will no longer tell you what I think you want to hear, I will no longer try to make you feel better so you don’t worry about me. You need to worry about yourself. Putin is at war with Ukraine, and we have been trying to defend ourselves, all on our own. You probably don’t even know about three Ukrainian planes the Russian terrorists shot down in recent weeks. Do you know about the 500 Ukrainians, soldiers and civilians, who have been killed by the Russian terrorists? Do you know about the thousands of Ukrainians injured and displaced by the Russian terrorists?
For three years I have walked to work through the grounds of the Main Military Hospital. It’s a large and lovely territory, 3-4 city blocks long, with a chestnut tree-lined central alley, flanked by various medical offices and patient wards. There are gazebos and benches and magnolia trees and lilac bushes. I’ve gotten used to seeing the occasional elderly veteran sitting on a bench, or a young soldier recovering from appendicitis. I’d almost forgotten it was a military hospital, and have often thought how lucky I am to walk to and from work through such a lovely park. It’s one of my favorite times of my daily routine, it’s been one of my favorite places in Kyiv.
Until recently. Now the benches are occupied by wounded young men, sometimes with their young girlfriends or wives trying to look brave and strong. Wednesday, walking home from work, I saw a young man, 20?, with both hands blown off. No hands. Every day the past two weeks the security at the hospital has been increasing. First, instead of just the old guy pushing the button to raise the electronic arm-thingy and let cars through, there was one young man in full combat gear with an automatic rifle. Then two. Then some sandbag barricades went up. This morning, the gate at the pedestrian gate entrance was closed, reinforced by sandbags, and the vehicle entrance near our apartment was guarded by 4 armed soldiers, ready to seek cover behind a sandbag wall.
It took us time to understand what was happening here. It took us time to understand that the attacks were not isolated or for specific territorial gains. We knew we were at war, but now we understand it.
And it’s time you did, too. I am very, very sad by the 298 deaths on MH17 yesterday. But if the terrorists had actually hit their intended target, another Ukrainian plane to add to the three they’ve brought down in recent weeks, you probably would have heard nothing about it. I mourn deeply for the 298 souls lost yesterday, as well as the 500 Ukrainians who have been lost to this madness. The death toll in Putin’s war on Ukraine is now at least 800.
It’s time you, too, realized what is happening here. It’s time to stop not worrying about Ukraine. Because when you don’t worry about Ukraine, you don’t worry about Russia. And Russia is dangerous.
Anka in Kyiv 