The nation that money can’t buy

Trump can hold the funds, but he will never manage to hold us down

WHAT IF MONEY IS NOT EVERYTHING in life, but to those who have built their empires on greed, nothing exists beyond wealth?

Ukraine has never been a country that moves for money. We have survived without it, with nothing but our will to endure. For centuries. But those who worship greed are not able to see this. They cannot understand the concept of a nation standing for something greater than profit.

The greedy do not understand the concept of dignity. They believe everything has a price because their own souls were bought long ago.

I am not here to talk about geopolitics. I am not here to talk about news. I am here to tell you about the Ukrainian soul and the Ukrainian spirit. About what it means to be Ukrainian in these days when our lives seem to be measured by business transactions.

I'm here to talk about that father from a village wiped off the map by Russian missiles, who stood in the wreckage of his home, clutching the only thing he managed to save: a photograph of his children. The roof and the walls had collapsed, but he stayed. He did not run. He did not beg.

Instead, he started rebuilding with his bare hands. No one paid him to do it. No one promised him a reward. He did it because this is his home.

Because this is Ukraine.

And yet, some in the West dare to speak of money. As if our survival is something to be bought and sold. As if our resistance has a price tag.

Ukraine is not a country that moves for money. We move for dignity.

For decades, we have survived poverty and hardship with our heads held high. We have built our lives in circumstances most would call impossible. We have raised children in the shadows of genocide and occupation. We have cared for our elders when their homes were turned to dust.

Money has nothing to do with this.

But the greediest of the world, the ones who see this planet only in terms of profit and loss, will never understand this.

They ask, How much is Ukraine worth?
We ask, What is the price of freedom?

There is no man on Earth more consumed by greed than Donald Trump. It is his lifeblood, his purpose, his identity. He built an empire on it. He boasts about it. He takes pride in seeing the world as a transaction, where the only thing that matters is what can be bought.

Now, he looks at Ukraine’s suffering and asks, Why should we pay?

But here’s what Trump will never understand: Ukraine is not fighting because of money. Ukraine is fighting because we refuse to kneel.

While Trump counts money, Ukrainians count the ones we’ve buried.

If the West turns away, we will still fight. If the money stops flowing, we will still stand. Because this is not about aid. This is not about economics.

This is about survival.

Donald Trump sees everything through money because that is all he knows. That is the world he has built for himself. He is a man whose empire is made of greed, whose legacy is the glorification of self-interest. So when he looks at Ukraine, he is blind to everything that truly matters.

Trump and Putin are the same kind of men. They believe everything is for sale because they have never fought for anything greater than themselves.

They will never understand why a mother risks her life to bring her child to school, even when the school is half-destroyed by bombs.

They will never understand why a teacher continues to teach in the ruins, writing lessons on broken walls.

They will never understand why a soldier, out of ammunition, still stands his ground, because surrender is worse than death.

They will never understand that there are things in this world that cannot be bought.

We will resist with or without the money of the world's wealthiest. Because our strength does not come from dollars. It comes from something no amount of money can buy.

It comes from the unshakable will of a people who refuse to bow.

Trump can cut his money. The greedy can turn their backs. But Ukraine will not fall. Because this war was never about dollars. It was never about negotiations. It was never about business deals.

It was always about dignity. And dignity is something the greedy will never recognize.

Our dignity is something that even the greediest person on Earth will never manage to destroy.

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📖 The Divine Comedian: Ukraine’s Journey Through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise is more than a book: it's my attempt to capture Ukraine’s unbreakable spirit in our darkest and brightest moments. If you want to see this war through the eyes of those who refuse to surrender, I invite you to read it. Download it for free in PDF and Kindle formats: