1,000 nights of nightmare

We don't know if we are alive anymore, but we are resisting

ON THIS TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2024, UKRAINE REACHES 1,000 days of resistance. A thousand days ago, Russia invaded this innocent nation with its innocent people, initiating one of the most shocking events of our times.

1,000 days ago, our lives were drastically transformed overnight. Millions of civilians rushed to seek shelter in parts of the country far from home. Millions of families, like mine, were torn apart as women sought safety in neighboring countries to protect our children.

Through these 1,000 days, our beautiful nation has been brutally attacked, leaving places almost unrecognizable. Entire cities have been erased from the map. Millions of innocent people lost their homes, their belongings, their dreams.

Millions lost their own lives. Some as heroes, falling on the front lines defending Ukraine, and others in a different sense: people who are surviving, but lost their understanding of life as it once was. People who no longer recognize themselves after 1,000 nights of nightmare.

I am part of this group. This text is by a citizen called Viktor, but a very different Viktor from the one 1,001 days ago. I was born 37 years ago, but it often feels like I've lived 50 since the invasion. The memories are becoming so distant that they seem to fade on their own.

Many times it's only possible to remember who I am because I have my documents issued before the war.

The Viktor who began 2022 believing Russia would never dare to confront the world and invade Ukraine, that Viktor no longer exists. That person was destroyed, just as Russia has devastated Mariupol, Bakhmut, Bucha, and so many other cities.

Russia is waging a campaign to destroy Ukraine not only with missiles and drones but also from within—from the heart and soul of every Ukrainian who lost their homes, their jobs, and their families.

I am a broken person. Large parts of me feel dead. My beloved wife and child have gradually become like strangers after 1,000 days apart. And I could never blame them—they have to rebuild their lives however they can. They are protected from war but still face the difficulties of living as refugees abroad.

If there is blame, it lies with this project of evil and madness called Russia.

But our disdain for Russia is so immense, so deep, that it brings an unexpected force, giving us the strength to collect our shattered pieces and rebuild our resilience.

We gather fragments of ourselves from 1,000 days ago. Pieces that sometimes feel like distant memories of who we once were. And although we know we can't fully revive our past selves, we must do something with what remains.

With what is left of us after these thousand days of hell, combined with those scattered fragments of our lost selves we can find here and there.

Because no matter who we are now, we have a duty to fight against this enormous injustice called the Russian invasion.

And even without knowing who we are today, we fight for humanity. We fight for our allies who support us so much and care about us. We will fight so that no one else ever has to endure these 1,000 days of terror that we have faced.

At least not from Russia. Because they are driven by evil, and they will not stop in Ukraine. As history has shown us countless times, Ukraine is just the starting point of their madness.

But we will not let them go beyond Ukraine. Even if it takes another 1,000 days to defeat them for good.

And to make the world safe from Russia for the next 1,000 years.

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