The Sirens in California Are Heard in Ukraine

Different country, same script

THEY’RE SAYING IT COULD BE an insurrection. That the president has the right to send in troops.

He hasn’t used the Insurrection Act yet, but the argument is already written.

Marines deployed.

ICE empowered.

The language is set.

The trap is baited.

This is the part people always miss. It never begins with war.

It begins with watching who gets afraid.

In Ukraine, we were also told we were a threat.

They told us we were extremists.

Then “terrorists,” then “Nazis.”

Then they bombed us.

They started the same way here. The unstable, the dangerous... Just before the soldiers came.

And the missiles.

So when I hear those same words now on your screens, from your president, pointed at your own people, I don’t feel outrage.

I feel dread.

Because this is the blueprint.

Every dictator copies it. Just swaps the language, keeps the method.

By the time people realize it, it’s already too late to stop.

I’m writing as a foreigner.

I’ve never stepped foot in America, but I know what it means to be hunted by a government.

To be told your country doesn’t exist. To be treated like a danger for wanting to survive.

That’s what Trump is doing to immigrants.

Immigrants. The ones Trump is calling criminals, terrorists, problems, they are foreigners too.

People like me.

People running from something they didn’t choose.

From governments that erased their names, from homes that stopped being safe. From laws that became traps.

In some ways, they carry more pain than I do. Because here in Ukraine, we’re still united.

We believe in our president. In each other.

They have none of that.

Ask someone from Venezuela.

Or someone who crossed three borders, jungles, human traffickers, border guards, to bring you food, clean your hotel room, wash your dishes, pick your potatoes.

They didn’t come to hurt anyone. They just came to live.

And if you’ve ever cried at my stories here about Ukraine, if something here stayed with you, please remember:

The person Trump calls a terrorist is someone just like me.

Someone who knows what it feels like to have nothing but the will to survive and the hope to be allowed in somewhere, anywhere.

Some say it’s not the same as Ukraine because there aren’t missiles and the buildings are still standing.

No, it’s not the same.

It's worse.

Because you don’t see the damage.

You don’t see the hole in the building, but you feel it in your life.

You stop trusting. Stop resisting.

This type of war doesn’t level cities.

It levels people.

This fight, yours, mine, is the same.

Here we resist Putin. There, you resist Trump.

They aren’t opposites. They’re aligned.

They speak the same language and they follow the same script:

Control the story.

Militarize the response.

Punish those who still care.

Please never allow California to become Ukraine. But don’t mistake the absence of missiles for safety.

Some destruction leaves no crater.

Some of it looks like fear, worn so long it starts to feel normal.

Some of it looks like rights erased until you don’t remember what it felt like to be free.

I saw your governor say, “Arrest me.” I’ve heard that tone before.

It’s not defiance. It’s the sound of someone who knows the rules are gone, but refuses to vanish.

California has more supporters of Ukraine than any other state. Maybe because of its size, or maybe because you already understand how this feels.

So don’t let that fire die now. Don’t wait for a better time.

Don’t assume someone else will speak.

That’s how this kind of thing wins:

It waits for you to give up.

I don’t write this as a journalist. I don’t work for a platform.

This journal is the only thing I have left to fight with.

And if it means something to you, then you already know that this work doesn’t survive unless someone like you decides it should.

Ukraine is fighting.

California is resisting.

You’re not just watching.

You’re already in it. And I hope you stay.

We need each other now.

🇺🇦🇺🇸

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🔖 This isn’t just a journal, it’s how I try to hold the line. All content will always remain free, but if you believe in Ukraine’s fight, and these words mattered to you, a paid subscription is one way to keep this voice going. It makes this possible. Only if it feels right to you.

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📖 “The Divine Comedian: Ukraine’s Journey Through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise” is my first book: about Ukraine, seen from inside the fire, and the hope that refuses to die. Download it for free (PDF & Kindle).