Three years of unbreakable will

Some thought Ukraine would fall in three days

WHAT TIME IS IT IN YOUR PART OF THE WORLD right now?

In Kyiv, it's exactly 4:30 in the morning.

At this exact date and time three years ago, we were in the first hours of another February 24. But not just any February 24. One that would change our lives forever.

The day before, we thought it would be just another ordinary Thursday. The political situation was clearly deteriorating, yes, but few truly believed that Russia would be reckless enough to go through with its threats. The world watched, uneasy but unconvinced.

But then, at 4:30 AM, Vladimir Putin appeared on Russian television, delivering an "emergency address" as he declared what he called a "special military operation." A calculated term, chosen to disguise the reality of what he had just done.

He was declaring war on Ukraine.

28 long minutes of speech with the usual lies. He was boasting about the usual propaganda narrative, like Ukraine oppressing Russian speakers or developing nuclear weapons. Before he concluded his historically shameful message, missiles were already leaving Russian territory. And minutes later, they were finding their targets in our nation.

Before panic could take hold, the explosions started in several regions. First in Kharkiv, then in Odesa. But nowhere felt the first wave of attacks more than our capital, Kyiv.

The biggest conflict of modern times in Europe was starting right there in one of the largest cities on the continent, in front of the eyes of more than 3 million souls who were in shock and not believing what they were living.

It was happening.

And so what came next became the history we tell the world every day since then. The world saw the most brutal assault on national sovereignty in our time. The most vicious attack on a peaceful population in decades. A direct strike against the very values of civilization, against the international laws that so many had fought and died to build.

But something else happened too. Something Putin never expected.

Putin wasn't expecting to see courage like never before. He saw a nation that refused to break. A people who stood their ground, not because they were fearless, but because they loved their land too much to let it be stolen.

Not that we didn’t love Ukraine before. But when someone tries to take everything from you, your nationality, your culture... you realize just how much it means. And you understand, without hesitation, that every sacrifice is worth making to defend it.

Our right to be Ukrainians. Our right to have a nation to call ours.

Our right to be who we are.

And that day will always be with us. Just as Americans remember exactly where they were and what they were doing on the morning of that devastating September 11, every Ukrainian will always remember where they were on the morning of February 24 three years ago.

The capital was gridlocked. The longest traffic jams in Kyiv’s history stretched for miles because people were desperately trying to get as far away as possible in the western direction, as distant as possible from Russia’s reach. Every road west was packed. Every border crossing overwhelmed.

I was part of that crowd, heading to Kyiv-Pasazhyrskyi, the central train station. People were confused, some were saying that each train could be the last chance to get out. Hours later, at the border with Poland, I was saying goodbye to my wife and my son, watching them flee to safety while I stayed behind. My duty was here. My fight was here.

And here we are, three years later.

Mentally exhausted, far from our families, living this endless war day after day for more than 1,000 days. Fighting for Ukraine and for the truth of who we are. Still here to tell the story as it happens. Fighting. Standing. Resisting. Surviving. Sacrificing. Crying more times than we can count.

We saw hell in front of us so many times in these three years. And yet, despite all our courage, we now see the United States, once our strongest ally, with a new president who has chosen to turn away from us. Talks of "agreements" and "compromise" begin to surface.

But in the current terms, compromise for Ukraine means surrender.

And we remain. And just as we remain firm in what we believe, just as we refuse to bow, just as we remain brave, we will always remember that February 24 in our lives.

We will always remember. Not just because we cannot forget, but because we must ensure that no one else in Ukraine has to live through something like that day again.

No one in Ukraine or anywhere else in the world.

Thank you for standing with us these three years.

🌻

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