UKRAINE- A TRAGEDY

In my twenty-something years as a teacher, I have encountered some strange situations, many of which are outlined in this blog and in my book.

However this last week has surely been one of the most surreal.

About five weeks ago I started English classes with a lovely 23 year old Ukranian student who lives in Kyiv in a high-rise apartment block.

Since then we have had 3 one hour classes per week and it has been so nice getting to know him and something about the Ukranian way of life, which I knew so little about.

He is a politics student, and I am a politics junkie with a degree in Politics and modern International Relations, so our conversations were often related to the accumulating Russian forces on the Ukranian border.

He was not at all concerned in the beginning, he has a lot of respect for Putin, and he (and most other Ukrainians) felt it was grandstanding that was being whipped up by the West.

We got to know each other well, he loves skateboarding and he has just finished his studies and exams in the University.

It was his birthday on 14th of February and one of the presents he received was a Go-Pro. When we had our class on Tuesday he was looking forward to using it for the first time this very weekend on a snowboarding trip to the Carpathian mountains.

When we spoke on Wednesday he told me that everyone was in shock that Putin had recognised the 2 “rogue” states in the Ukraine, and they were starting to fear the worst, but really he was still more or less confident they would not invade.

The next morning around 4 a.m they did.

Our Zoom call on Thursday was probably the most surreal experience that I have ever had. He was nervous, chain.smoking. His phone was constantly pinging with messages and phone calls from family and friends. Explosions could be heard in the background and at one point a Jet fighter flew past his window.

I just had an overwhelming sense of powerlessness as we said goodbye, words failed me completely.

Knowing what he was facing was excruciating.

Also, as a young man his President was even calling him to fight in an unwinnable war. My student was not intending to do that. He referred to a famous quote that I cannot find the original version, but something like “to get people to fight in wars first you have to create a society worth fighting for”.

He does not like the Ukrainian President, he refers to him as a clown.The quote I would give is that of Voltaire:

“There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people.”

My son is a similar age, and it seems unconceivable that this could happen in 2022.

What has happened to our world?

I have not received a reply yet from the last message I sent him, and I see he was last online at 3.32 this morning.

Kyiv is under attack.

I pray for his safety and for all the Ukrainian people who are completely innocent.

I pray that his President will surrender as, like it or not, not doing so will just prolong the conflict and more people will die.

This war cannot be won by the Ukraine, and Nato will not join in to help as that would have unimaginable consequences for the whole world.

That is not palatable, but it is the harsh reality of the situation.

Please let it be over soon.